The Journey
by badboysam
Summary: AU Action Thriller: There are many types of journeys in life. Can two people from separate worlds who could not be more different from each other possibly share the same one? Disclaimer: Thankfully the real Glee is somebody else's problem - definitely not mine!
1. The Beginning

**_A/N and intro: _**

**_The Oxford Dictionary defines the word Journey as: An act of travelling from one place to another, or a long and often difficult process of personal change and development. I like to think that the word Journey is not necessarily an 'and/or' scenario._**

**_This AU story is set in a world which is split into secto_rs_, each with their own 'kind'. 95% of people are born, grow up, live and die in their Sector with no real desire to leave or explore the outside world. Each sector is large, self-contained and self-sufficient which perpetuates the lack of desire to leave or learn anything of other sectors. Each Sector has its own 'culture', traditions and belief systems which are strictly adhered to at risk of punishment. Yet in each generation and within each Sector are those who dream of something else. They may not know what something else is, but they dream of it anyway._**

**_Between the Sectors are smaller Transit Sectors. Those few who are intrepid enough to travel negotiate their way through them. It is a place for the brave, frequented by the underclasses and the criminal community and only a few from each sector are brave enough even to seek employment there out of fear of those they might encounter._**

**_This story is very different from Familiar Faces. At this point I have to ask you to please stick with it because things will become clearer in chapter 2. But for now, let's throw ourselves right into the middle of the action!_**

* * *

_Whatever you do, never look them straight in the eyes..._

Alex turned and fired as soon as he heard the sound. The man slumped back silently, eyes still wide open with a perfectly circular crimson hole between them. The exit wound at the back of his head was far less delicate.

Night was falling and the small roadside diner in Transit Sector 57 had already closed and the staff were gone.

The dead man was not alone. He had been here to make a deal with Romanov Kijczek, the real target of tonight's assassination. This unnamed man was simply collateral damage, death by association. But he was also scum. One of the unending stream of henchmen who did the dirty work for their overlords. They were two a penny, lived fast and died young.

At twenty seven Alex was already 'old' for those in his line of work. The money was excellent because most never stayed alive long enough to actually spend it. Alex never left witnesses so he never got caught. Patience and preparation made him a cut above the rest and the top of his game.

Most would call him scum along with those he was paid to kill and in some ways they were right, but he did hold on to his own moral code. It may not be the one that his or other sectors would condone or accept, but it left him with a sense of discipline that he hoped, rendered him a cut above the average senseless killer.

He turned at the sound of the bathroom door. Romanov was whistling as he came through. It was a fatal mistake. It meant that he wasn't alert. By the time he caught sight of Alex, he was stood in front of him, gun aimed right between his eyes. The large heavy built man cast his gaze over to the slumped body of his associate before sighing. "Who sent you?"

"Zeben."

Romanov nodded slowly in realization. "Of course."

Alex fired twice in rapid succession, one between the eyes and the other through the heart. One or other would have been sufficient for a kill, but when it came to Romanov, Zeben was sending out a message.

A split second after the second shot he heard a gasp. Spinning around immediately he pointed the gun between the eyes of the person who had just come out of the kitchen. It was a girl, clearly she worked there and was leaving later than the rest. He should have immediately pulled the trigger to eliminate the witness and clean the crime scene but he didn't. Something was off. She was just a girl, dark and soft which was characteristic of girls from the 17th sector. Her hand was clasped over her mouth, clearly fractionally too late to suppress the sound that had already escaped it.

But for the first time in his professional career Alex made a mistake. Normally in this situation, people got scared and stared into the barrel of the gun. This girl was different. She stared straight at him and he stared right back at her. Not just at her face, but right in the eyes. He had no idea of the caused him to do it but now he was caught like a deer caught in headlights. Only these weren't headlights. These were eyes like molten molasses, rich, dark, sweet and sticky enough to drown and suffocate you.

Alex was stuck. He knew he _should _pull the trigger but he couldn't. He had had been sucked into a vat of molasses too thick to move.

She said nothing and neither did he. They simply stood, facing each other and staring into each other's eyes for what felt like an eternity.

_He couldn't kill her. She was an angel. It would be wrong to kill an angel._

But neither could he let her live. He was being watched. There was surveillance in the building and his employers would be tapped into it to ensure the job is done. If it gets botched up in any way, or he leaves witnesses, then _he_ becomes the target.

So he _had_ to kill her.

He knew this, and yet even as the thought went through his head, his arm lowered of its own accord and he was no longer pointing the gun at her.

"You- you killed them!"

He should have felt annoyed that she was stating the obvious, but he was lost, not on her words, but on the melodious sound of her voice. His brain screamed that he was in danger but his body refused to cooperate. Maybe she was a siren, like those ancient mythological sea creatures from the cartoons he used to watch as a child. Beautiful and alluring, but deadly. The second you get too close you meet your death. Maybe this was all an elaborate setup to mark the end of his career. He had lived too long. He was too old for this business. He knew too much about too many in the underworld. He understood how thin the line was between being considered an asset and being found to be a liability. Sometimes that line was as thin as a person's perception.

But this girl was no threat. He knew it. How did he know it? Her voice. Her tone.

The fear.

You can't fake genuine gut wrenching fear. It changes the baritone in your voice. Hers was melodious but fearful. He cast his eyes over her body. Oh what a body! Women in his sector didn't have softness like that and through his travels he had come to wonder why the hell not. His quick scan answered his question. Plently of softness but no concealed weapons. If there were he would happily die trying to find them.

_Why the hell was he thinking like this?_

"Are you going to kill me?" She spoke again softly in that shaky musical voice.

"No." He knew it was the wrong answer and cursed himself for giving his word. Now it was literally going to cost him his life to keep it.

"But you killed those men!"

"And you talk too much!" he snapped.

She kissed her teeth and cut her eyes at him. A life and death situation and she _cut her fucking eyes at him!_ If he wasn't already so fascinated with her he would have blown her brains out!

Instead he put the gun back into the waistband of his pants to avoid the temptation of changing his mind and killing her there and then, and grabbed her roughly by the arm despite her resisting.

"Are you kidnapping me?"

"No. I'm saving your fucking life. So MOVE!" Tugging her roughly he pulled her through the door and onto the rapidly darkening street. "This way!"

"But I live in the other-"

He didn't give her time to finish. He had higher priorities than the beautiful girl who wouldn't shut up. He wished he didn't, but he did. Ignoring the sudden shrill sound that filled the air, alerting everyone to the fact that the nightly curfew was about come into effect, her ran down the street, still pulling her with him.

"Why didn't you kill me?"

He didn't bother to reply and she clearly took it as him not hearing so she repeated the question. "Why didn't you kill me?"

"I don't know!" His jaw clenched in annoyance.

"How can you not know?"

He wanted to kill her and her stupid questions, he really did, but now wasn't the time. He stopped and suddenly turned into a dark alley, raising his finger to his lips for her to hush.

She didn't get it.

"Where are we-" This time one harsh stare was enough to silence her and restore her fear. There were several metal crates along the side of alley. Alex headed straight for the fifth one along and ran his hand along the back. This was the money drop off point. There should be a wad of cash taped to the back of the crate, the balance of his payment for the hit.

But here was nothing there.

Alex felt a pounding of his chest and he began to sweat. It was news of the worst kind. He hadn't been paid. Instantly he knew it meant three things. First, there had definitely been surveillance at the site of the hit so they knew he had left a witness behind. Secondly, henchmen would have been instantly dispatched to take him and the girl out. Thirdly, they would know that he would come and look for his payment so this would be the most likely location for an ambush-

"Get down!"

He felt her hand grab him and pull and as he was on his way to hit the ground he actually felt and heard the bullet that flew millimeters past his face.

He stared at her, shocked. She had literally just saved his life and probably didn't even know it. Maybe he was meant not to kill her so that she could save him.

_She really was an angel!_

But there wasn't time to say anything. Pulling his gun he shot his head up briefly before discharging the remaining three bullets at the spot where he had seen a shadow move. He was rewarded with the sound of a man groaning.

Without hesitation he took the girl's hand. "Run!"

Thankfully she listened and was a fast runner. They were nearly at the end of the alley when he heard the shot and instinct made him push himself in front of them and pull them to the ground. Once there he pulled her tightly against him and rolled them both to the side where they could shelter behind the nearest crate.

That she looked soft was nothing to the way she felt in his arms. It was distracting in the worst kind of way. But there was no time to enjoy it. There were voices in the alley. He recognized the sound of Sector Patrol officers shouting questions. The sound of gunshots must have alerted them and their exchange with his assailants sounded terse.

This was his chance! With the greatest reluctance he let her go and grabbed her hand again. "Let's go!"

They fled the alley and ran to the end of the street. Once there he paused, trying to gain his bearings. He knew the route to that particular alley, but no more.

"This way!" The girl pulled at his hand this time and led him down a cross street. "I know where we are!"

She led them down what looked like a dead end. At the end she followed the fence until she came to a slight warp in it. Pushing firmly, it opened like a gate.

Alex had never seen anything like it. "Which Sector is through there?"

"No Sector."

"Like another Transit Sector?"

"Like _outside _of Sectors!"

It was a concept he struggled with. But something was bothering him more. As she turned towards him he saw her shirt. It had a red stain. "You're bleeding!"

"Huh?" Her eyes widened with shock and she looked down, quickly touching herself. "No, not me. It must be..."

He followed the direction of her eyes to the front of his shirt. There was blood. Significantly more than hers.

"You're hurt." Suddenly both her eyes and her voice were soft.

He was. Now that he thought about it there was pain below his ribs on his side. Maybe the adrenaline of the moment had stopped him from feeling it.

"Come quick and we'll look at it when you're safe." She held open the gate and he had no choice but to follow her into no-man's-land.

And by no choice he meant he had nothing to lose.

* * *

_**Ah yes! I can hear the questions in whirring in people's brains, but as I said at the beginning, you'll have to stick with it for the next chapter where things will start to make more sense.**_

_**As for Familiar Faces, for those of your not on Tumblr, I will be updating it on the 14th, Valentine's day. I hope to have this story completed by then.**_

_**Why do I challenge myself like this? **_


	2. The Rebirth

The ground was grassy and soft. Now that he was aware of the wound he felt the pain and the girl kept shooting him concerned looks but he walked as straight as he could, regardless. They soon reached a large tree where she told him to sit. Alex wasn't used to a girl telling him what to do but his legs buckled regardless.

"Let me see." She tried to lift his shirt but the darkness made it difficult to see clearly. There was a lot of blood. "Here, use this!" She uncoiled a long strip of fabric from her hair, causing thick braids to fall over her shoulders. Folding it into a pad she handed it to him "Use this to put pressure on the wound. How do you feel?"

"I'll be okay to continue."

"Good. Because I can't carry you. It takes about twenty five minutes to walk to my home from here seeing as you took us farther away." She looked down at herself again and rubbed the patch of blood on her front. "Damn! My dad is already going to kill me for getting home after curfew."

"You live with your dad?"

She looked at him incredulously as if it should be obvious to him. "Of course!"

"So..."

"So you have you have a choice, go back and be killed by men like you, or come with me and make yourself useful."

"Useful?"

"Yes. To me. Very."

That definitely piqued his interest. How could he possibly be useful to her? Did she want him to kill somebody for her? For some reason she didn't seem the type to want that. And there was another, more pressing issue which caused him to frown. "So you're taking me into your Sector. Won't I be harmed?"

She cast him an unreadable expression. "Why do you think that? Is it because you're a _spirit_?"

_That was a new term to him. _"Spirit?"

"Spirit. Ghost. Pale person. We've had your kind in our sector before you know. People might stare a bit but you won't come to any harm." She chuckled bitterly. "That being said, I'm sure the same would not apply to me in your sector. I've heard what can happen to people who look like me there." He opened his mouth to disagree then closed it again because he couldn't so he allowed her to continue to speak. "Try not to judge everyone to the standards of your people. The more I learn the more I find out about a thing called injustice. Not all people are judged equally, and people like me are rarely given chances so when they coma along we have to take them. _You_ are _my _chance and I'm taking you." She looked back at his blood stained clothing. "Besides, you're wounded."

Breaking out of her thoughtfulness she strained to look at her watch in the darkness. "We need to move faster. Nothing good happens out here this late."

He still had no true concept of where 'out here' actually was but he followed her regardless. The pain was worsening as he walked but he didn't want to alarm her. The idea of her being in control pissed him off but at this point he had no better ideas. It's not as if he could just go back. The bounty on his head would be huge and every single trigger happy lowlife would be considering it theirs.

They walked in silence for a several minutes before she suddenly stopped and loudly kissed her teeth again. 'I'm never going to be able to explain away this blood!"

Pausing, she looked down at herself for a moment before undoing the hoodie that she was wearing over her uniform and turning it inside out so that the blood was no longer visible. He tried not to notice that the diner uniform she was wearing underneath fit her to perfection, as if it had been made specifically for her shape. She was talking again, handing the top over to him. "Wear this to cover yourself."

He took it and silently put it on, the strain of stretching causing a sharp pain in his wound and even though she didn't acknowledge it, he knew that she saw him wince. "It's not far now, but there's a high chance of being spotted on this stretch. Whatever I may say or do from this moment on, don't take it personally, I'm just doing what I can to keep you hidden. There's method to my madness, I promise."

By now he was in too much pain to really care and he didn't even flinch when she reached up to pull the hood over his head. "Your hair is too distinctive," she muttered, looking significantly more nervous than she had a short while before. "We are very close to the entrance to my sector and I am not the only one who sneaks outside. People come here when they do not want to be caught, especially after curfew."

Her cryptic statement simply confused him but his focus now was simply on staying upright. He was feeling more and more lightheaded by the moment. They carefully approached a small area of trees and she suddenly took his hand. In return to his questioning glance he was simply given a 'just go with it' expression. "Couples who are not married come out here" was her simple hushed explanation. They had nearly made it through to the other side when they heard a twig snap and a giggle. Hushed voices slowly made their way towards them and there was no place to hide.

She tugged him towards her and backed herself against the nearest tree. It wasn't what he was expecting. "What-"

"Shhhh, just play along!"

_Play along with what?_

The answer was instantaneous. She pulled him close against her front and brought her hands up around his neck, bringing his face down to hers and kissing him on the lips. He instantly pulled back in shock but she kept her hands locked around his neck, forcing him back, her eyes desperately begging him to play along. So he did.

He let her kiss him. The kiss was clumsy and inexperienced but not entirely unpleasant. Without realizing it his hands had automatically settled themselves on her ample hips. It was a reflex action. Suddenly the sound of the giggle was directly behind his head and a female voice triumphantly announced "I caught you!"

His reflexes were to reach for his gun but she held on to him tightly, raising her head and pulling his face into her neck. Despite the tinge of diner food she still smelled good underneath, like she had applied some perfume just before leaving. Without even thinking his lips found her pulse point. "Please don't tell my dad!"

Her voice sounded scared, but it didn't quite have the tone of fear that it did when he was holding a gun to her head. She was faking it! And then it dawned on him. _This was her plan. To keep his face and bloody clothing hidden while she dealt with whoever it was that spotted them. _He continued to pretend to nuzzle lovingly at her neck, ever on guard to pull out his gun at the first opportunity. It contained a now empty clip, but only he knew that.

"Diva is that you?" The voice came again. "Well shit! Talk about good girl gone bad! You're the last person I expected to see out here like this!"

He felt her body tense in his arms. "Yeah well you're the first person _I'd_ expect to see here!"

This time the giggle was tinged with sarcasm. "Touche, Diva, touché!"

"We both know the drill. Neither of us were here and neither of us saw anything."

"Of course. But I feel it my duty to warn innocent girls like you that what you're doing right now is how babies get made!"

"And you know that better than anyone else!"

"Hey! Play nice! I'm just being a good citizen. Good upright girls like you get into trouble very quickly and believe me, you want the fun to _last!_"

He could feel her getting more and more annoyed but he continued to keep his face hidden, praying she would end the conversation quickly. Thankfully she did. "Yeah well I'd love to stay and chat but I'm already late for curfew so let's just call it quits!"

"For now Diva, only for now. Goodnight loverboy!" There was the sound of her departure and then nothing. Suddenly he felt himself being rudely pushed away, only for her to apologize when he winced in pain.

"She's gone. Let's go. It's beyond late now!"

"Do you think she'll tell your dad?"

"I'm counting on it!" Alex didn't know what to make of that answer. This girl was a complete mystery to him and kept surprising him at every turn. He followed closely as she continued to move on quickly, acting as if what had just happened had never happened.

Suddenly they were at a fence. He didn't see it in front of him but when he reached his hand forward he was touching it. The girl expertly felt along the fence which was only now becoming visible because he was looking directly at it, and after a few seconds clearly found what she was looking for. A small push revealed it to be an entrance to her Sector. Without hesitation he followed her through and stepped directly onto a sidewalk. Turning back to where they had come he expected to see the gate but saw nothing but a solid brick wall. Maybe the blood loss was affecting his head.

The streets were deserted and they moved quickly and in the shadows. This he was used to. In one corner she did stop under a light and assess her uniform for blood. There was none. "Not far now!"

Five minutes more and a brief walk through a green space led them to a single story house and she led him by the hand around the back.

'Wait here!" She helped him to sit outside a darkened window and he was grateful for the rest. He was now feeling truly awful and the prospect of being killed was suddenly becoming more and more appealing. It seemed like an age that he was left there but his watch told him that it was only thirty minutes. Just as he was starting to feel abandoned a light tapping on the window alerted him to her presence. Turning he saw her head leaning out. "Sorry but you're going to have to climb in. Dad's watching the news and can be at it for hours!" She lifted the window wide and offered her hand. The climb caused a shooting pain in his wound that made him involuntarily gasp out loud.

"Shhhh!" She hushed him as he landed heavily with a thud. The room was larger than he expected. The door was to the side, a large bed in the middle and a narrow gap on the floor between the bed and the window where a camping mat, blanket and pillow had been laid. "Take off your shoes and lie here, I need to look at your wound."

He didn't have much choice so he did as he was told, allowing her to remove the hoodie and unbutton his shirt. "I'm sorry I took so long. My dad lectured me for being late. Then he lectured me for 'losing' my jacket. Then he made me sit with him and eat. I couldn't get away faster..." He saw the way her eyes glazed when she saw his bare chest. It was a common female response. He worked hard to take care of his body and maintain his physique. His job required a strong body and a strong mind and he prided himself on having both. The time that had elapsed had caused his shirt to start to stick to his wound and the exertion of climbing in though the window had caused it to start bleeding again. "Did you keep the pressure on?" He nodded showing her the now ruined hair tie which he had been using. He knew enough basic first aid to understand the importance of pressure on a bleeding wound. But again he winced as she pried his shirt from the injury. "I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do to make this part-"

"Don't worry!" He hadn't meant to snap at her in response. It was the pain talking, but she already seemed to understand that. Taking the pillow she propped it upright against the wall. "Here, sit back. It'll help." He pulled himself back against the wall and again caught her admiring his muscles. "Nearly done..." She finally finished easing his shirt away and he helped her by sliding out of it completely. Averting her eyes from his naked torso she began cleaning the wound with a cloth which she dipped in a small bowl of warm water. "It's not too bad!" He watched as she carefully cleaned the wound. "The bullet skimmed your skin but didn't penetrate fully. The edge of the wound is deeper and it seems to have taken a bit of flesh with it but thankfully it doesn't seem to have hit anything internally. It's a nasty laceration so it'll definitely leave a scar."

"You sound as if you're used to dealing with gunshot wounds!"

She smiled and shook her head. "Just what I've seen on TV. I always wanted to be a doctor but here only men can be doctors. I heard that in other Sectors women have more career choices." She wrung out the cloth and continued to clean the wound. ''No sector is perfect. This one is good for some things but not so great for others. We all need to learn from each other and take the best from each world. But I'm just little old me and my opinion is not important."

That wasn't true. "I disagree. You speak more sense than most out there, believe me."

"Yeah, well..." She had finished cleaning the wound and was checking the skin around it for debris and other injuries. Her touch was light and made him breathe that little bit more deeply. "I'm sorry we don't have much first aid stuff so I have to improvise. She pulled out a small knife and before he could question what was happening an aloe vera leaf appeared and she sliced into it. "This will keep the wound sterile and promote healing at the same time. She sliced the piece lengthwise and put the cut side against the wound covering it completely. He took another sharp intake of breath. It stung like hell. She secured it with surgical tape which she had left following an injury a couple of years ago that had needed regular dressing. Then came another of the long pieces of fabric she used in her hair. This time she wrapped it right around his torso to secure it. Leaning forward put them in close proximity and he used the opportunity to watch her, unobserved. Everything about her was still angelic despite the fact that he knew she was definitely human.

When she finished she tossed him a shirt. 'It belongs to my brother. "He's away at the moment and won't miss it anyway.' Once he had slipped it on she smiled. "There, that's better." She got up and vanished from sight returning a couple of seconds later carrying a small tray bearing a mug and a plate. "I'm sorry there's no more dinner left but I've made you a warm chocolate and malt drink which is really filling and there's some bread and butter to have with it. I made the bread fresh this morning and I can assure you that it is good.' He eyed the items hungrily. It hadn't occurred to him until that very second that he'd eaten nothing since breakfast and the smell of the chocolate was making his mouth water. Before touching them however, he eyed the two white capsules on the plate next to the bed warily.

"Just something for the pain so that you can get some sleep. If you don't trust me you can leave them, I won't be upset. I'm just trying to be helpful. You have something to eat and I'll go in the bathroom and get ready for bed." He had totally missed the door on the first appraisal of the room. The pain was obviously dulling his senses. How could he not tell that she had an ensuite! "Anyway..." She rocked back on her heels and quickly stood up.

Before she could turn away he had grabbed her hand and looked straight up at her. "Thankyou!"

Her face broke out into a megawatt smile that was like a ray of sunshine. 'You're welcome. And thanks for not killing me and taking an injury for me. To tell you the truth I wasn't ready to die today." And then she turned and was gone. Moments later she returned in a pajama set which consisted of shorts and a top and sat on the bed watching him in silence for a few minutes before speaking.

"While you're eating I'm going to set out a few ground rules. Firstly, keep your voice down at all times. It's deep and I don't want anyone to hear it. Secondly, you are the first man to ever set foot in this room and if you in any way attempt to abuse that privilege I will not hesitate to hurt you. Being the only girl in this family, my dad is respectful of my privacy and never comes here. If, by any chance he does look through the floor, you are shielded by my bed as long as you stay on the floor. Thirdly, bed is my personal space. You do not look at it and you do not touch it. The same goes for me. What happened outside was just to get us out of the situation. I know the conversation I had made me sound like I'm one of those girls but I'm not. I may need you, but I don't need you for _that!_"

"So what do you need me for?"

"To get out of here. But I'm still working on my plan so I'll tell you more about it tomorrow."

"And what does you plan mean for me?"

"It means that you don't die."

At this point, he couldn't really ask for anything better than that. He also couldn't fight the huge yawn that escaped his mouth. The pain killers worked quickly and now that the adrenaline had gone, his body was entering rest mode. He knew she was eyeing him carefully but a second, larger yawn escaped anyway.

"We will talk more in the morning. You need to rest." He watched as she climbed under her covers. "In the bathroom is a spare toothbrush and towel. You need to stay down on the floor at all times and use the bathroom only when I'm in the room. And don't even think of trying to move around the house during the night. I've locked the bedroom door and the key is where you will not find it."

"Are you scared of me?" He didn't know why he asked but he needed to know. She looked at him with those big dark eyes. "Yes. Yes I am still scared of you. But other things scare me more."

It made him feel good to know that she was still scared of him. To a degree he was at her mercy right now, but her fear of him still left him some power which he could use in the future if it became necessary. Safe in that knowledge he put the pillow onto the camping mat and pulled the blanket over himself with another yawn. "Diva is a pretty name."

"Diva is not my name."

"But that girl called you-"

"It's a nickname. A title. My name is Mercedes."

"Mer-shay-dis?" His tongue struggled with the sound and she snorted in amuzement at his accent. "Mercedes!"

"That's what I said. Mershaydis!"

"You're funny! When I was little and couldn't say my whole name properly I used to call myself Dee. You can call me Dee."

Dee was definitely easier and he liked it. "Thankyou for saving my life today Dee."

"Thanks for not killing me! It seems strange, we've been through so much together and I don't even know your name either!"

"My name's Ale-" He paused. Was telling her his name really such a good idea? "You know what. Maybe I shouldn't tell you my name. People are still looking for me. Bad people. It's a protection for you if you don't know who I am."

She pushed herself to the side of the bed and looked down at him. "I don't think it's fair that you know my name but I don't know yours. What am I supposed to call you?"

"You can call me whatever you like!"

"So I can call you gunman?"

"You could. But that isn't really a name."

"You want me to give you a name?"

"If you want."

"In some Sectors people are given names based on who they are. People get to know them first then they give them a name that they think is fitting."

"So if I tell you my story you'll give me a name?"

"Yeah."

"And if I don't tell you my story?"

"Then I call you 'gunman'. But I don't want to. When I looked into your eyes I saw that you were far more than that."

Alex didn't feel ready to share his story with this stranger. "Then 'gunman' will have to do!" He pulled the blanket over his shoulders and turned his back to her. "Goodnight Dee."

Silence. He knew that she was staring at him but she didn't care. He didn't want to talk.

"Fine! Goodnight murderer!"

She flipped off the light and he lay there in the darkness, listening to her shifting around under the covers, sleep clearly as far away from her as it was from him. He lay still for an absolute age, waiting to hear her breathing change to indicate that she was asleep but it didn't.

Eventually the guilt got to him and so did the darkness. His demons always came in the darkness. "Dee? Are you sleeping Dee?"

There was the sound of her shifting in the bed but she didn't reply.

"I was seven when it happened," he said softly

There was a pause and her disembodied voice came from the direction of the bed. "When what happened?"

"When my family died."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

He stared into the darkness. It was so much easier telling the story when he didn't actually have to look at anyone. "I went through a phase of not sleeping in my bed. I had a tent in the middle of my bedroom floor and I slept in there while my bed stayed perfectly made. One night, I woke up in the early hours. I was thirsty so I went to the kitchen to get a drink. As I came back to the top of the stairs I heard a noise then saw a man walk from my bedroom into my parent's room. He was holding a gun. I didn't know why but I followed him. I stood in the doorway as he shot my mom and dad while they slept. They never even saw him. But my sister did. Her crib was at the side of the room. She was only twenty months old. The sound of someone in the room must have woken her. I was frozen to the spot in fear as I watched her stand up in the crib and smile at the man. I willed her to stay still and silent but she just giggled. He turned at looked at her for a few seconds then walked over to the crib. I thought he was going to pick her up and take her but he simply held up the gun and shot her in the head." His voice wobbled at the memory and he heard Dee gasp.

Despite the pitch darkness he knew that she was crying. "Inside my head I was screaming but in reality I was like an ice cold statue as I stood watching powerlessly as he placed the gun on her changing mat and started searching through my parent's closet. I knew it was too late for me to save my family but I could avenge them. The man was so busy searching for whatever he had come for that he didn't hear me cross to the changing mat and take the gun. The safety was still off and I pointed it right at him. He must have heard something at that point because he started to turn around so I pulled the trigger. The shot blew half his head away and the force kicked me back onto the floor, as well as injured my shoulder.

Ten minutes later I was still sat on the floor with the gun in my hand when Zeben found me. I had nobody and he took me in. He found the men who hired the man who killed my family and made them pay. They weren't supposed to have died that night. His instructions were to threaten only and retrieve a hidden file. There was no excuse for killing a sleeping family and a baby. I should have been dead too. Apparently there were three bullets fired into my tent."

He stopped talking and listened to the sound of Dee sniffing. He knew that she regretted asking but once he had started there was no way that he wasn't going to complete it. "For years I didn't know who Zeben was. He always said that he was a friend of my father and I took his word for it. I didn't do well at school so he didn't make me go. I expected the authorities to try and force me but they never did. Nobody ever did. To me, Zeben was a father figure and he took me under his wing and told me that I was special. It wasn't until much later that I found out there had been surveillance in the house the night my family died and he had seen I had calmly shot the man and was impressed. He personally taught me how to use a gun properly. He would take me with him into the Transit Sectors and I met lots of other men like him. I knew that he employed many men but I didn't know what for. I was sixteen when I discovered Zeben is what's called an 'enforcer'. He is the man that everybody is scared of. And nobody messed with me because I was under his protection. He had taught me how to handle a gun properly and told me how there were many men like those who killed my family. Men with no heart and no conscience. These men needed to be taken out before they hurt others like I had been hurt. I had no problem doing it. I considered it a public service. A public service I got paid well for. A job I did for years until one day I find that I can't pull the trigger on an innocent girl and the hunter suddenly finds himself being the hunted."

He stopped talking then. It was the first time that he had ever told the entire story aloud and now he was feeling physically ill. He hated himself and he hated his life. This he already knew because it wasn't anything new. But somehow it really mattered to him what the girl up on the bed thought of him. She had taken him in, fed him and patched him up, but he could still yet be thrown out to the dogs. She could decide that she didn't want his particular brand of dead weight to bring her down too. She was innocence personified while he was the definition of corruption.

"Who gave you the right to take life?"

He wasn't expecting a question from her. And he definitely wasn't expecting that one. It's not as if it was a question he could answer.

"It's what I do. It's what I was brought up to do and it's all I know."

"You can learn new things. You can be better."

"In my Sector we have a saying, 'you can't teach an old dog new tricks'."

"You're not old, and nobody is beyond redemption if their heart motivates them to want to do what is right."

He scoffed. "I like you outlook on the world. It's naïve and oversimplistic but it warms those cold dark recesses previously known as my heart."

He heard her shift in her bed again but she said nothing. After a few moments he began to feel guilty about his little outburst. "Now that you know what I am, if you want me to leave in the morning I will, just show me how to get back to the outside area and I'll be fine. I can fend for myself."

She still said nothing but he was sure she hadn't yet fallen asleep. Just as his own eyes finally grew heavy he thought he heard her voice. "Huh?"

"I said Samuel."

"Samuel?"

"From the bible. He also grew up away from his parents and was taught a career that he had no choice over. Only his career was for good, not for evil. Samuel became a good man and a prophet."

"Samuel." He rolled the name around his tongue and it flowed easily, much easier than hers.

"And if you want to keep it even more simple you can just say Sam."

"Sam." He liked that. He like that a _lot._

After another silence she started talking again. "There used to be a spirit family that lived ten minutes walk from here when I was growning up. Their surname was Evans. We can pretend that you are some sort of relative of theirs. They had dark hair, but we can fix that."

"Evans." That rolled off the tongue pretty easily too. "Samuel Evans. Sam Evans."

"Sam Evans isn't a killer."

"He isn't?"

"Sam Evans is a good man. He is a man of honesty and heart. Do you think you can be that?"

_I can be anything you want me to be, my angel. _Alex nodded into the darkness. His previous life was over anyway. It would do him good for it to be erased completely. "I can be Sam Evans if you want me to be."

She was silent for a moment. "I want you to be."

"Then I accept the name."

"Good, because it's late and I'd sleep easier knowing the man on the floor next to me is not a killer."

"Sam Evans is not a killer."

"I'm glad to hear it."

"Goodnight Dee, and thankyou."

"You're welcome Sam. Sleep well."

_From this moment I am Sam. This is my second chance._

_Let me use it wisely._


	3. The Plan

**_Hi everyone. _**

**_I'm really enjoying the response to this story. There are a few questions which have come up which I will try to answer without revealing too much of the story. After I finish this and Familiar Faces I'm going to have to read the Hunger Games because clearly I am the only person on the planet who hasn't seen the film and apparently it's quite similar in to concept of Sectors. According to Wiki those sectors are still within the same country and compete with each other. In this universe things are different. It's not quite the world as we know it because things are far more segregated. The Sectors, even though geographically some of them are extremely close to each other, are completely independently functioning societies. Inhabitants are of the same race as everyone else in that sector and often share the same physical features (eg. Everyone in Alex/Sam's Sector is white, tall with light hair and green eyes, everyone in Mercedes' sector is black and the women tend to be short and curvy while the men are tall with high cheekbones.) How the world came to be like this, I don't know, it's just a story but I hadn't imagined a huge apocalypse or anything like that. As far as people living in it are concerned, it's just the way it has been and always will be. There is no desire to question. Each society is concerned with their own life and live within their own rules with no interaction with others and no real desire to explore the world around them._**

**_Between these sectors are Transit Sectors like the area where Sam and Mercedes first meet. As the majority stay within their own sectors for their entire lifetime not many people pass through them and those who do are often looked down upon. The criminal element of life thrives here because rules within Sectors tend to keep them crime free. Rogue elements therefore have to find neutral territory in which to air their dirty laundry. Criminals pass through Transit Sectors freely and because of this, people tend to get a bad name, just by being there even if it is for a straightforward reason like employment. Sector Patrols serve the purpose of preventing trouble from bleeding out of the Transit Sectors and into an actual community, hence the curfews._**

**_What most people do not know is that it is possible to completely exit the Sectors and go Outside. This concept baffles most because Sectors is all they know. Mercedes took Sam 'Outside' when she skipped between Sectors on the shortcut home. I will explain more about this in the chapter because poor Sam doesn't really get it either._**

**_The whole idea is that all the Sectors are separate entities. There is no interaction. There is no knowledge of others. Most people live in a state of ignorance about those around them and the world around them. Each has their own belief system in the sense that Mercedes' Sector is very religious whereas Sam's is more atheistic._**

**_And yes, Alex and Sam are the same person. It is important for the reader to know and understand this, but from this point on, he is now Sam Evans and will be referred to as such. There is method to my madness so you'll have to trust me on this. I will also go back and name my chapters. There will only be 6 of them and I have already named them but I don't want to ruin the story._**

**_Usual apologies for typos etc..._**

* * *

_There was blood everywhere. Blood on the walls, on the floor and all over him, and through it they marched..._

"Sam?"

_The men without faces they marched relentlessly towards him. They had bodies covered in blood but their faces had been blown away. Despite it he still knew who each and every one of them was by their clothing._

"Sam?"

_Who is Sam?_

_Usually the march was silent, but this time they had a voice, choked, gargling, blood filled voice and they all asked the same question "Who gave you the right to take life?"_

"Sam! Wake up! Sam!"

He felt someone touch his arm and immediately lashed out, connecting with something, or rather someone soft. Opening his eyes he took in his unfamiliar surroundings and the silhouette of the girl clutching her breast painfully.

_Shit! Not only had he lashed out at her, he hadn't been awake enough to appreciate that he had connected with one of those beautiful ample breasts!_

She didn't look best pleased which was understandable given the circumstance but before he could say anything she beat him to it. "You were having a bad dream. I don't mind that, but you were groaning and making too much noise!"

"I'm sorry." He kept his voice as a low whisper. "I'm sorry for the noise and I'm sorry I hit you. Especially _there_."

She glared at him but nodded. "It's okay. I know you didn't mean anything by it. At least you didn't pull a gun on me this time!"

That was very true. And very lucky because the gun was reloaded and under his pillow. "What time is it?"

"Just after two."

"Is that all?"

"That's all."

It felt like a whole night had already passed. And now that he had had a nightmare he knew that there was no way that he was going to get back to sleep. He listened to the sound of her sigh as she climbed back up into her bed. "What time do you have to get up in the morning?"

"About seven. I have to make breakfast for me and dad. I'll get something for you too."

There was silence for a while. "Goodnight Sam."

_That's you. You're Sam now. Remember she named you?_

"Goodnight Mershaydis." He pretended that he didn't hear her laugh at his pronunciation and resolved to work on it throughout the day. The least he could do was get her name right.

"At least the nightmares prove you have a conscience." Her whisper pierced the darkness. He thought that she had fallen back asleep ages ago. He heard her shift in the bed so that she was facing towards him again. "What do you see? In your nightmare I mean."

"Men."

"The ones you killed?"

"Yeah." _Why the hell was he telling her all this? What was it about the darkness that let him lay bare his soul? Was it the fact that he didn't have to look anyone in the eye while he was talking about it? _

"Do you ever see your family in your dreams?"

"Sometimes." Those dreams were the worst. Especially when he dreamed about his sister. She was always there, standing up in her crib with her arms outstretched, her eyes begging him to save her but he never makes it in time... He needed to change the subject. "So when are you going to tell me about this plan that you have?"

He heard her shift slightly then pause. "It's still a work in progress but needs to be executed soon. I can't keep you hidden here forever."

"So where do you propose I go?"

"You mean where _we go?"_

"What? Both of us?"

"Yep. You're my ticket out of here. There's a place. A place I need to go and see. And you're going to help me get there."

"Where is it?"

"I'm tired Sam. I'll tell you tomorrow, I promise. I've had a stressful day and I need to sleep!"

He'd forgotten about that. He had been so concerned about how events affected him that he hadn't thought about the girl who had gone to work in a diner, thinking it would just be a normal day like any other, only to end up running for her life and harboring a trained killer. She sure as hell needed her sleep.

"Sleep tight." He turned over painfully and said nothing more.

* * *

He woke to the sound of movement next to him and nearly sent the tray flying out of her hands. He apologized for his jumpiness and she glared at him as she laid down a tray next to him. Warm toast, two hard boiled eggs, an orange and a cup of coffee. "It's the best I could do. Dad and I need to do some shopping."

He thanked her and tried to stand. Before anything he needed to use the bathroom. Offering her arm she helped him up and he resented the need for assistance. He could have done it on his own. It's only that the blood was a little slow returning to his legs.

"You have fifteen minutes to get washed and use the bathroom before I leave. I want to check your wound before I go too."

He hated being told what to do but realized it was in his own interests to get a move on. He took the clothes she offered him and quickly set to work. Catching sight of his reflection he stared at his pale skin and dark circles under his eyes. The injury had clearly taken more of a toll than he had anticipated, as well as the poor night's sleep. Noting the lack of time he got washed as best he could and slipped into the pair of sweatpants he had been given, noting that they were actually a pretty good fit. His chest was still bare and he was just unwrapping his wound when he heard the tap on the door. "Are you decent?"

"Yes."

Her head poked round, eyeing him carefully, noting the damp hair and towel. Saying nothing she helped him remove the temporary dressing. The wound still looked raw and damp because of aloe vera. But it also looked less angry. "Not bad." She pulled out another cut piece of leaf and redressed it. Only as she was tying it off did he notice that she was wearing her diner uniform.

"Are you going to work?"

"I have to!"

"You have no job. The diner will be closed!"

"I'm not supposed to know that yet. As far as my dad and everyone else is concerned I left work as normal last night and came home. Whatever else went on happened after I left."

A sudden feeling of dread filled his chest and his voice rose into a harsh whisper. "You can't go. You'll be killed the moment you step foot into the Transit Sector! They'll be looking for you same as they're looking for me! It's not safe!"

Worry streaked her face. She clearly hadn't thought about that and there was no way that he could let her walk straight to her death. The sudden sense of panic it created in him was alarming. "Say you're sick or something!"

She shook her head. "I can't, it'll raise suspicion."

"Just don't go Dee. You can't. You'll die! You said last night that you're not ready to die yet." _And I'm not ready for my Angel to die yet either._

"Right now I can't do anything that raises suspicion." She looked at her watch. "And that includes breaking my routine. I have to leave as if I'm going to work but I'm sure that I'll be told to turn back before I have to leave this Sector."

He wasn't convinced, but he could see from her face that there was nothing he could do to stop her. It's just- that feeling that he had when he thought of her stepping into the Transit Sector and putting herself at risk- it scared him. Alex didn't do scared and Sam wasn't prepared to either. "So what do I do?"

"Nothing. You stay here, eat your breakfast and you wait until I get back. Then we can discuss the Plan." He followed her back out of the bathroom and settled back onto his spot on the floor, sipping his now lukewarm coffee. If he wasn't feeling so weak from the injury he would fight her on this, but it was in his best interests to stay quiet and go along with things until he could come up with his own solution. Hiding out in this girl's bedroom was infinitely better than being on the run. "My dad is home this morning. He shouldn't come anywhere near this room but stay quiet and stay down anyway. Hopefully because of the situation you caused I should be back sooner rather than later."

There was far more he wanted to ask but time was passing and he knew that she needed to go. He didn't want her to but he appreciated that she didn't really have a choice. All he had to do was not get caught and not kill her dad before she came back. It was hard watching her go.

Thankfully she was back within the hour. But it had been the longest hour. It hadn't occurred to him until moments after she had left to ask what would happen if she didn't return. Her dad would come into the room and one or both of them would have surely ended up dead.

Her smile was wide. "I didn't even get to the edge of the Sector. I was stopped by Sector Patrol, I know the guy and went to school with his younger brother. He told me there had been an incident, asked me if I had seen anything unusual when leaving work last night then sent me back home, saying I could be called up for further questioning but he didn't think it would be necessary."

The relief he felt was immeasurable. It wasn't like him to worry about another person, but this was the girl that he owed his life to. "I'm glad you're okay." He said the words softly and she simply looked him hard in the eyes and said nothing.

"I'm going out again. Dad's taking me to the shops to get a few bits. We're low on food and stuff. Then he's going to work and I'll be working from here."

"I thought the diner was your job!"

"The diner is _one _of my jobs_. Was_ one of my jobs. I'm also a seamstress which I do from home. It's a job that's far more acceptable for me to have than the diner. Not many people knew about that one anyway. Dad hates me going into the Transit Sector but he learned a long time ago that he can't stop me."

"I have questions about you and travelling through Sectors."

"I know. And I will answer them when I come back."

Again he was left behind, but this time he was relaxed enough to catch up on a little sleep.

She returned in a jovial mood. "I love shopping. It's something I'm really going to miss." Handing him a candy bar that she had stashed in her pocket she lowered herself onto the floor next to him and unwrapped one of her own. "I'll answer some of your questions now and some later when I've done some work. What's your first question?"

He didn't even know where to start, there were so many. "The Plan?"

"Save that question for later. Ask something else."

"Tell me about Outside. I still don't really understand it."

"It's simple. Outside is the place between Sectors. And when I say between Sectors I'm including the Transit Sectors in that. Not everything is completely joined together along all its edges. There are sections of Outside, that run between the sectors like seams. They're patches of untouched land, land in its natural state. Where we were with the grass and the trees, that was Outside. I've been using it as a shortcut for years to get between here and the Transit Sector. It's like stepping across a small river instead of walking along the shore to find a bridge then doubling back on yourself along the other side."

"How come I didn't know about Outside?" Being a man it made him uncomfortable that this girl knew about things that he didn't.

"Most people don't know. All we know are Sectors. All we are told is Sectors. We are taught that all that is between Sectors are Transit Sectors. There is no need to know about anything else for the average person. But I'm not your average person."

"Yeah. I had noticed that. So how did you know about Outside?"

"I found it. I saw the gate one day and I went through it."

"Yes! I needed to ask you that. How did you do the whole passing through thing? Knowing there was a fence at the end of a dead ended alley and seemingly passing through a brick wall to get into this Sector?"

She smiled. "I'm special. I have perception."

"Perception?"

"The entrances to Outside. They've always been there, in full view of everybody but nobody chooses to see them because they're not looking for them. If you don't know what Outside is, why go looking for it."

"But you were looking?"

"Ever since I was a child I knew that there had to be something more. This Sector stifled me and I didn't feel like I belonged. Everyone walks around wearing blinkers and nobody had the desire to explore. I struck up a friendship with Quinn. She was the daughter of the spirit family I told you about. She used to tell me about life in her Sector and how it was different to here. Her family had travelled through many Sectors as she grew up and she saw many things. She showed me a gate to Outside and I immediately went through it. She was stunned. She said that most people she had shown could not even see the entrance. It's because they have no desire to see so their eyes do not register it. A couple saw it but had no desire to investigate. I was the first and only one to go straight through. We used to play on the grass together and run between the trees. Once I had seen one entrance suddenly I could see all the others. Places people walked past ever day were suddenly entrances to another world and everybody was just blindly walking past them. Quinn was the one who told me about the sea. She said she didn't remember it but she had been born there and they travelled while she was still a small baby. Her description of it made me decide that I wanted to see it for myself and that would be my life's mission, to see the Sea."

"What's the Sea?"

She stared at him hard. "You've never heard of it?"

Not wanting to sound ignorant if front of a girl he immediately went on the defensive. "Of course I've heard the word, just not the explanation.

"The Sea is a body of water." She smiled as she spoke and he knew that whatever the hell it was, it had to be something that made her happy. "It's bigger than a river and bigger than a lake."

He had never seen a body of water bigger than a lake before. Just how big are we talking about?"

"Huge. It stretches farther than they eye can see. It stretches for days and weeks and months. And the water is different. It's full of water and it moves all the time. Not like rivers which flow in one direction, it travels back and forth along the edge of the land but it never actually goes anywhere."

"I don't get that."

"Neither do I! I'm told it's something you have to see to understand. It's called a Tide. There's so much to learn and I want to see it for myself. I want to swim in it. I want to watch the sun rise over it in the morning and set over it in the evening."

"And she was sure about this place?"

"Oh yes. Her parents spoke of it, and through the years I've met people in the Transit Sector who have seen it."

Sam nodded. "So what happened to Quinn?"

"I don't know. One day they were gone. I looked everywhere but there was no sign of them. My dad said they had appeared suddenly so it didn't surprise him that they disappeared like that too. I knew that they would have travelled again but was sad at not having the opportunity to say goodbye. The next time I went Outside I saw something next to our favorite tree. It was a gift and a note." She reached under her pillow and showed him a small round item. He'd never seen anything like it before. It had an arrow that moved and four letters equally spaced around the edge: N, E, S and W.

She handed it to him and he ran his fingers over it. "What is it?"

"It's a compass. It tells you what direction you are going. The sun rises in the East and sets in the West. The Snow falls in the North and the Sea is at the furthest point when you head South."

"So you're going to follow this to find the Sea?"

She looked at him incredulously. "It's basic geography Sam. I know you might think it, but I'm not basing my life's dream on a myth. Land has to end somewhere and I want to get to the place where the land stops and the Sea starts."

"And what do you plan to do when you get there?"

"Live out the rest of my days looking out at the sea and knowing that I had the courage to achieve my dream." For all her craziness he couldn't fault her determination.

"And where do I fit into all of this?"

"You?" She took to compass from him and played with it between her fingers. "You will help me. I don't want to do this trip on my own. I can't do it on my own. Quinn was safe because she had her family with her. My family aren't like me. Like most they're happy here they have their lives here and they will die here. They have no desire to leave. And they would never let me go on my own."

"So why don't you just run away?"

"Because I don't want to hurt them or bring shame on them. In this Sector a girl will only leave home if she is married. There is no other valid reason. And I have no intention of getting married. To do that would tie me here forever! Unfortunately remaining unmarried is a huge shame too and I cannot break my father's heart by shaming him. The third option is to have to run away and get married. It's the kind of thing that will end up happening to the likes of Rachel who we came across Outside. To be 'with child' while unmarried means that you will be sent away or have to run away. There is no place in this society for unwed mothers, but unlike other places, the life of the unborn is treasured so the mother is given the chance to make a go of her life elsewhere as long as she promises never to return and bring shame on her family. It means saying goodbye to your family and community, but holds greater respect here because it does not involve taking an innocent life."

"That's strange."

"I know. But that's the way it is. The life of an unborn child is more important than the mother and there is no sin greater than taking the life off an innocent."

Sam felt uncomfortable. Even though the lives he had taken weren't exactly innocent, he still felt conscious that he was now in a community that held life as far more sacred than he did and it was something that he was eventually going to be at odds with. Worse than that, he was starting to see how this girl's plans were starting to come together and by the sounds of it she was needing him to play some kind of fake baby daddy! "So that time when we were outside and you kissed me..."

"It was all part of the Plan. Rachel has a big mouth. It's only a matter of time before she says something to my dad. I'm too much of a good girl for him to believe it from me, it has to come from somebody else. Somebody who would be in the position to catch me and feel that I should be reported."

"This Rachel sounds awful!"

"Not awful. Just deluded. We used to be good friends until she decided that she was better than me. She used to do everything she could to be the most popular but that wasn't my thing. I always kept my head down and behaved well. I didn't want to be first all the time, I just wanted to be a good citizen and I guess that eventually wound her up. She loved the idea of setting herself up as my competition but the sad thing is that I was never in competition with her. She has her life and I have mine. I avoid attention while she craves it. We are different people and that's all. I don't resent her because ultimately she will play a part in helping to realize my dream."

Suddenly he felt his frustration start to grow. "You're forgetting one important detail in your plan!"

"What's that?"

"Me!"

She frowned. "What about you?"

"What happens if I say no? What happens if I refuse to do this?"

She shot him a cold hard stare. "Then you can go and fend for yourself. The key for my plan to work is to find somebody equally as desperate with nothing to lose. You fit the bill. You're also young enough to pass convincingly as someone who could get me into trouble."

"So you just want me for my looks!" Despite himself he grinned at the sheer craziness of what she had just said.

"I don't care about your looks. It's not as if this is all for real! Don't flatter yourself on that front. I just need you because you look strong an I need someone to carry a water filter for us to use while we travel!"

Something about his terse reply made him stop short. She really had been giving thought to this plan. This crazy stupid plan. "And what about your dad? What if he tries to kill me for allegedly getting his daughter pregnant?"

She looked at him as if he was crazy. "Yet again, not everybody is you. Not everybody uses killing people as a solution!"

It was starting to annoy him. "You act as if what I did was a hobby, something I did for fun! It was my job and only my job. Underneath it all, surprisingly I am _not_ a psychopath! If I was then you wouldn't still be here discussing your crazy plan. You'd be six foot under!"

"Oh so I'm crazy am I!"

"Yep. Definitely! Have you actually listened to your crazy half baked Plan?"

Her eyes lit up with anger. "Oh so you think you can do better than this 'stupid' idea do you? Well please, do go ahead! I'm all ears!"

_It shouldn't be that difficult to come up with something! How hard could it be?_

He didn't get a chance to reply because she had left the room in a huff, leaving him to his thoughts.

After a couple of hours he had calmed down and could smell food being prepared. It was tempting to leave the room and see what she was doing but he didn't know when her dad was coming home and had no intention of putting either of them in jeopardy. The worst part was, try as he might, he wasn't able to come up with a better plan. His only chance of escape was to go Outside. And if he was totally honest, he didn't really like the idea of going on his own either. For a start, he doubted that he would be able to see the entrances without help, and for all her mysterious talk of places he had never heard of she did sound rational and logical. He decided that instead of dismissing her as he had done at first, he would try to find out a little more about her before jumping to conclusions. After all, if she was crazy, there was no way that he would want to be stuck on the Outside with her anyway.

She didn't return to the room until evening when she brought him a bowl of food. She handed it to him in silence and turned to leave again when he took her arm gently. "Thanks for the food. And I'm sorry about earlier. I didn't mean to undermine you. I think your plan is a good one."

She looked at him hard for a moment before nodding. "My dad will be home soon so you have to stay in here. I will have to eat with him but afterwards I'll come back so you can have the light on."

"Thanks." The light was already starting to dim so he took his bowl to eat near the window. The bowl contained a generous portion of rice, meat and a spicy sauce. He had no idea what was in the sauce or even what kind of meat it was but it was definitely one of the best meals he had ever eaten in his life.

Later he heard voices and realized that her dad was back. Another hour or so passed before her door opened and he heard her shouting goodnight. It wasn't late but she was saying something about having a book to read.

This when she came in she turned on some music and seemed surprised that he had he had washed his bowl and spoon of his own accord. He was a man used to living alone. There was no woman to clean up after him.

She sat on her bed and simply frowned at him for a couple of moments, looking as if he wanted to say something but didn't have the words. He didn't like it when she wasn't smiling. He needed to see that smile back on her face. "I've thought about your plan and I like it."

Her eyes widened. "You do?"

He didn't really but he also didn't really have a choice. "How long do you think it will take? To reach the sea I mean."

She shrugged. "I don't know. Quinn was a baby when they made the journey. It could be days, weeks or even months. I have no way of telling at this point."

"We will need equipment."

"My family used to go camping when I was growing up. I have a tent, things for sleeping and even lightweight travel rations. But I can't carry everything I would need. The water filter alone takes up half a backpack but obviously it's essential. Plus I have money. I've been saving since the day I started earning."

Clearly she had given this much more thought than he had given her credit for. "And if we do this, when we get to the Sea I'm free to do what I like and go where I want?"

"Of course. My dream is to stay by the Sea. I don't expect it to be yours. You have your own new life to make and you can carry on travelling until you find the place where you want to permanently lay your head."

"Then I'll do this with you. There's always risks but we're safer together and we both get what we want."

A new life in a new place. It definitely was an appealing idea. Having had the afternoon to sit quietly and calm down and think about it, he had decided this was actually a win win situation. She wanted to travel and he, he wanted to be there to protect her for the journey. _An Angel should not be forced to do this on her own. She is an Angel trying to find her wings. Who are you to deny her the opportunity?_

The best part was her smile. It made her face radiant. If he had known he could make her this happy he would have agreed straight away instead of being so belligerent. The simple act of her smiling at something he had said made him feel good. Zeben gave acknowledgement and praise but he rarely smiled. His mom had smiled all the time. He associated warm smiles with her love.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Huh?"

"You were smiling. Like you were remembering something good, a happy thought."

He wasn't good at sharing his thoughts but if he was going to be travelling with this girl he was going to learn to have to. Sam Evans sounded like the type of man who would confide in her. After all, there was no-one else.

"I was thinking about my mother. She had a beautiful smile, just like you."

She totally ignored the compliment and looked at him. "You must miss her."

"Yeah. I do. She gave great hugs and told great stories."

She simply nodded and started to look sad herself. "What about you? You only ever mention your dad."

"My mom... she'd dead too. She died when I was fourteen."

"I'm sorry. What happened?" As soon as he asked the question he regretted it. Not a polite question to ask. That's the problem with being brought up in the environment that he was. There was no woman to soften the edges and to teach him the times when a little delicacy and tact would go a long way. "No. I shouldn't have said that. Please ignore me."

"It's okay. My story is not an unusual one. Have you heard of the Hardness?"

"The Hardness? No."

"I didn't expect you would. Apparently it's a sickness which is common in this Sector. It's the biggest cause of death in women here. Some statistics say it eventually claims the life of one in three."

"What does it do?"

"It affects the stomach and causes pain. Your stomach swells like you're pregnant but the rest of your body fades away. Then at the end the pain stops and it leaves you just enough time to say goodbye to your friends and family before it takes you for good."

"Isn't there a cure?"

"No. Doctors are looking but they haven't found one yet. It also doesn't help that all the doctors are men. They have other priorities."

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah. Well so am I. But nothing I can do can change that."

"Tell me about her. What was she like?"

"She was beautiful. She had glorious thick hair and she had the singing voice of an angel because she loved to sing. She was a midwife and all the citizens loved her. My dad was heartbroken when she died and he's only just started to get himself back together again."

"So it's just you and your dad who live here now?"

"Yes. I have a younger brother but he is away at school. He is training to be a minister. It's his clothes that you're wearing now because he left a lot of his things here. And I have an older brother who is married. They have a small house but his wife is expecting their second baby. If I go then they could move in here. It would be good for them and good for dad. But that would never happen if I'm here. If I go it would actually make things easier for everybody."

She went quiet for a moment he left her with her thoughts while he had a few of his own. Then she suddenly perked up again. "Hey Sam, I got some stuff for you." She reached down to a bag which she had dumped on the bed earlier in the day. I told dad I needed some personal items and went to the pharmacy. Now I can dress your wound properly. Plus I also took the liberty of buying some things for the trip." Putting a small first aid kit and some medications to the side she pulled out some dressings and antiseptic cream and dressed his wound properly.

When it was done he smiled at her gratefully. "Thank you Mercedes!"

She gasped in surprise. "Hey you got my name right?"

Of course he had spent the entire afternoon practicing, putting together the syllables which would normally never be next to each other in his native accent. But again, the smile that he was rewarded with made everything worth it. For all she was doing for him, the least he could do was say her name correctly! "Thanks for making the effort Sam. I appreciate it."

The next couple of days were good. He was still trapped in the room on the floor but in all honesty the enforced rest did him good. In the evenings, after spending time with her dad, she would spend time with him and they would talk. He had very little to say but was rapidly getting used to being referred to as Sam while Mercedes always had something to say. It was exhausting but also fascinating. While she was out or working during the day she pointed out her large collection of books. He had smiled and nodded but was too embarrassed to let on that his lack of schooling meant that his reading skills were extremely poor. He hated books and still struggled with even simple words. Mercedes, on the other hand, was a fountain of knowledge. She had read every book she could get her hands on. She craved knowledge of the world around her and had taken work in the Transit Sector specifically because she wanted the opportunity to mix with and speak to other people who had travelled. Her understanding of geography and science baffled and slightly intimidated him, but even when it felt like she was talking endlessly for hours, the lyrical quality of her voice captivated him.

But the day after that he nearly blew it. It was morning and as usually she got to use the bathroom first. When she returned from the bathroom he was busy cleaning his gun. He didn't even need to look up to feel her disapproving stare.

"I'm not comfortable with that thing in here." Her voice was cold and hard.

He stared back at her. "Then I'll leave. It stays with me. I need it."

"You don't need it. Nobody needs weapons."

He said nothing. She didn't understand. There's no way a girl like her could understand. But she was his only chance. The situation was messed up but somehow this girl and his gun with its six remaining bullets were his only chance of survival. The irony was that here was actually the safest place for him. Nobody would be looking for him here because nobody would expect him to be here for a multitude of reasons.

"If it makes you feel better I won't kill you or your family."

"It doesn't."

She didn't speak to him again for the rest of the day. She hadn't out rightly told him to get rid of it but that was the implication.

After that setback it took a couple more days before she trusted him enough to let him in other rooms of the house. The living room is where she did her work, making custom made to measure dresses on the large sewing machine in the middle of the dining table. He would have to hide in her room when clients came to pick up their pieces, make payments or be measured up, but the rest of the time he would sit and watch television as she worked. Or rather, he would pretend to watched television when really he was watching her work, her brow creased with concentration as swathes of beautifully colored fabric were passed under the machine or finished by hand. When it was time to cook he would stand in the kitchen with her, watching as she used spices he had never seen before to create delicious dishes effortlessly.

The day after that was strange. She was up even earlier than usual and brought him a large breakfast. "Today we'll be out all day so you'll have to stay in here."

"Going anywhere nice?"

"Today we have Worship. I would make you come with us but obviously that's not possible."

It was a shame. He wasn't a Worship kind of a guy, but the dress she was wearing was so pretty that he would have followed her anywhere in it.

They came home late and she was in a serious mood when she came back, far less talkative. He would have liked to have known why but figured that's just the effect that Worship had on her. Maybe her harboring a murderer was playing on her conscience and he didn't want to do anything to make her throw him out. He liked being around her.

The next day she was back to her normal self and even showed him some of her dress designs while she worked. He started to wonder how long it would be before she started to put her plan into action.

"Sam?"

"Yeah."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

They were lying in the darkness, after lights out. It was the only time of day that he felt comfortable answering questions about himself. Not that comfortable was the right word, more like it was less _uncomfortable_.

"Have you ever killed anyone from this sector?"

He was silent for a moment as his brain flicked through the faces of all the men that he had killed like a pack of cards. He was ready to say the answer was 'no' when his brain stopped at one. The man was tall and slender like the men from her sector which the classically high cheekbones. The sigh that left his lips was involuntary. His brain had nearly made it to the end of the pack with nothing.

"There was one." He hoped beyond all hope that she wouldn't push any further but it was pointless.

He heard the sound of her shifting in the bed to face towards him. "Who was he?"

"His name was Michael. I didn't know his surname but he was known as the Snake."

She let out a gasp. She knew him. He wondered how because he had been a particularly nasty piece of work and one of the few hits that he would happily have disposed of without charge. What was his connection with Mercedes? "His mom was a midwife. She's retired now but she trained my mom and she's a regular customer of mine."

"Did you know him?"

"Not well. But he was creepy and everyone knew he was trouble. We all just thought that he had run away. I had no idea what had really happened."

"He wasn't a good person."

"That didn't give you the right to kill him Sam."

"I thought we already established that Sam isn't a killer."

"We did. But Sam still has a gun so I'm not so sure about him anymore. There's a good chance that Sam may have to deal with the consequences of the actions of the man who was before him."

For some reason those words sent a chill down his spine.

* * *

The next day, he decided to stay in the room rather than sit with Mercedes while she worked. She had several clients coming and going and it was easier to stay completely out of the way. He was looking through some of the pictures in one of her science books when suddenly she came in with a strange expression on her face.

"Do you believe in Karma?"

Weird question. "Karma?"

"Karma. It's a concept. The bible says that you reap what you sow. Some Sectors call it Karma, getting back what you gave. Do you believe that?"

He thought back at his life. He'd done a lot of bad. But then a lot of bad had happened to him too. "It makes sense." He spoke quietly, an unexpected sense of foreboding falling over him at her words. Something bad was going to happen, he could feel it in his bones.

"Remember I asked you last night if you had ever killed anybody from this sector?" Of course he remembered. It was the closest he had felt to remorse in a long time.

"His mother is here. Do you think you could look an old woman in the eye and confess to killing her son?"

"Do I have to?"

"It's the right thing to do. It will make you feel better."

"But what if she tells somebody?"

"She won't. She knows her son wasn't good. She hasn't spoken to him or about him for years. But she is still a mother. She deserves closure."

"So you just want me to go in and say 'hi, how are you doing? And by the way, I killed your son'?"

He rolled his eyes at her sarcastically and she shot him a death glare that took his breath away. She wasn't joking and she wasn't about to be messed with. Not on this.

He really didn't want to have to do this. There were so many things that could go terribly wrong for him if he did. What was to say that this woman wouldn't pull out a gun and shoot him out of vengeance? Were things really so innocently clearcut in this girl's head? She'd taken him in, a killer, hidden him in her bedroom and asked him to run away and find some mythical land with her. Had it only taken him up until this point to realize that she was completely deranged? Maybe he could just pretend to go along with this and humour her. Mercedes' level of morality and inane sense of right, wrong, good and bad was maddening but maybe he was going to have to play along until they parted ways in safety.

"So what are you expecting me to do?"

"Just go in, admit what you've done, tell her that you're sorry and wish for her forgiveness."

"It happened three years ago! Why should I have to do it now?"

"Sam, I thought you were a good person!"

"I am!"

"So prove it!"

"But why like this?"

She stared at him hard. "If you're a real man, you won't be afraid to stand up and admit you were wrong. You can't bring him back but you can make peace."

Why did she have to go and say that? Peace was what he had always craved. Peace and freedom from his demons and his darkness. She was staring into his eyes again and he could feel that dangerous stickiness starting to pull him in again. Maybe she had some kind of evil hold on him. He wasn't sure, but whatever it was, she seemed to just be able to look him in the eye and he would be hypnotised. Just like the first moment he saw her, when his brain had screamed for him to pull the trigger while his arm had lowered itself of its own accord.

Now it was happening again. He could hear himself agreeing even though inside his head he was resisting her at every turn. And then suddenly his hand was inside hers and she was leading him through the house.

Still questioning why the hell he was doing this he followed her through into the reasonably large living room. Mercedes' fabrics and sewing machine were on the table and a bespectacled old woman with thinning white hair was sat in the in the soft comfy chair. She was tiny and looked frail and he wondered what the hell he had been nervous about.

"Auntie, I have found someone who has something to say to you."

The old woman looked at Mercedes as if she barely even recognised who she was. "I'm sorry dear?"

"This man. He needs to speak to you about something important. He needs to ask your forgiveness for something." She gave him a little shove and he stepped before the old woman. This was going to be easier than he thought. She was old and probably already starting to suffer from some degree of dementia which explained why she had turned up on the wrong day.

"Do you have a name son?"

He shook his head. "No." At this point he didn't. He couldn't give her his real name, but at the same time he was not prepared to taint the clean slate that was Sam Evans. Sam was an idea that he had warmed to. Mercedes liked Sam and he wanted to keep it that way. Hell, even he liked Sam too.

The lack of a name didn't seem to fluster her and she beckoned him closer, pushing her glasses further up her nose, clearly trying to get a good look at him. She reached out her hands to him and he shot a look towards Mercedes who simply nodded. Accepting her encouragement he stepped forward and took the woman's hand in both of his before kneeling in front of her.

"Look at me son."

He didn't want to but he did. She had those same entrancing eyes as Mercedes but with less of the warmth. When Mercedes looked at him she seemed to pierce his soul but this woman was slightly more dead behind the eyes. He put it down to her age and weakening mental state.

"What is it that you want to tell me?"

"It's about Michael."

She stared hard at him. "What do you want?"

He looked at her and saw a frail old woman. A mother who had lost her child. It may have been a wayward child but a child nonetheless. "I want forgiveness."

She pulled his head and rested it on her lap, stroking and playing with his hair gently. He looked over at Mercedes who smiled back at him with an expression of relief. It didn't occur to him until that point that even she had been unsure as to what the outcome of this meeting might be and was glad that things turned out well. "Guys, I'm going to get us a drink. I'll be back in a couple of minutes."

That couple of minutes was three and a half to be precise. If she had stretched it to four he would probably have been dead. As it was, there was a good chance that his nose was broken, his lip was split, the wound on his side was open and bleeding again and he had a bruised or possibly cracked rib.

He didn't understand what happened. One moment the old lady was stoking his head and he was basking in the unfamiliar warmth of love and forgiveness, the next, he knee had come up to his face and he had been sent reeling. This tiny frail old woman had picked up a chair and beaten him with it, breaking one of the legs on it in the process. And he had taken every blow. It's not like he could hit an old woman back. And it's not like he hadn't killed her son in cold blood, slimy piece of shit or not.

But she had flipped and somehow gained some superhuman strength, all the while chanting 'You killed my baby boy!' Then, as suddenly as she had started, she stopped again, leaving him to wonder if she _was_ actually suffering from some form of dementia. But she looked in straight in the eye and her eyes were clear as day. "My son was not a good man. I accept that, but nobody gave you the right to take life. I mourned my son after he disappeared and I dealt with it, accepting that it was the life he chose that took him away from me. I can't hate you and had already forgiven you before I met you, but that doesn't mean that I can't make you feel pain. Any pain you feel is a fraction of what I felt. But I have to thank you for looking me in the eye and asking forgiveness. I will never like you but I will respect you for that."

She offered her hand and he had no choice but to take it and allow her to pull him up. That was the precise moment that Mercedes returned to ask if they wanted sugar in their coffee. He heard her gasp at the sight of his injuries. She automatically went to help him but the old woman shook her head. He had this coming. There would be no help for him, but neither would there be any hard feelings. As he painfully made his way to his feet she spoke on last time. "I never want to see you again."

"I know." His mouth was already starting to swell and the pain was excruciating but he held his head up with dignity. Without looking at Mercedes he walked past her and hobbled back to the bedroom.

By the time she joined him there he had cleaned himself up and was applying antiseptic to the cuts on his face.

"She made me promise not to help you."

"I know she would. I wouldn't expect it. This is my karma. I have to deal with it. I was just doing my job when I killed those men, but I never gave a thought to those left behind and the pain that they might feel. I should have known, I was left behind myself, but I was numb. It's important for me to feel the pain right now." Somehow he felt that he was learning a lesson.

She nodded slowly. Looking at him in pain she knew that he just wanted to lie down but she had something she needed to ask first. "Before you rest would you be able to-"

"I'll fix the chair before your dad gets back, don't worry."

"And do you think she'll say anything, you know, about you being here? I'm sorry I introduced you. For a moment I forgot you were in hiding. I didn't mean to put you in jeopardy."

"She won't. She's made her own peace already and she knows what her son was and it's all history now, for both of us. Think of it as closure"

* * *

The next day he felt ten times as sore. When Mercedes had caught sight of his face she had gasped and her eyes had filled with tears. Checking out his face in the bathroom mirror he could see why. He was totally unrecognizable. His nose wasn't broken but it was sore and had bled for nearly an hour. He had two black eyes and one was swollen shut. There was a cut on his cheek and a cut on his bottom lip which had swelled to gigantic proportions from its already naturally swollen nature. His ribs hurt but again they were only bruised. Thankfully most of the damage was to his face and torso. His legs were still good for walking and this event had made it more likely that they would have to leave pretty soon.

Mercedes couldn't look him in the eye. At first he thought that she had somehow known that this would happen but her face showed that she had clearly been shocked. She spoke of him facing consequences to his actions but the reality of it was still a shock to her. He forgot that she lived in her very innocent oversimplified world. So much of what she knew was theory because of her sheltered life, and he spent most of the day trying to ease her guilt for having let this happen.

By the next morning she had adjusted to the sight of his mashed up face and come up with a new plan. She slipped two small boxes in front of him. "What are these?"

She smiled. "Your ticket out of here. Tonight you're going to meet my dad!"

The plan was simple. The two boxes contained hair dye and blue contact lenses and the bruising on his face made things even easier. They would become part of his cover story. Mercedes hummed as she washed the color into his hair. He loved it when she hummed. It made him feel calm. She'd taken to humming to him in the night if he woke with his nightmares, and because of it he had been sleeping better than he had in years. The gentle touch of her fingers on his scalp was also soothing. She was in full Angel mode.

Next came the lenses. He only needed to wear one as the other eye was already swollen shut. It was uncomfortable to put in but the change in appearance was dramatic when combined with his new hair. Now all he had to do was wait.

He stayed in the room and listened as the raised voices came towards the room. It lasted a while before she came for him. As they headed towards his fate he quickly turned to her. What's your surname? What do I call you dad?"

"Jones. Mr Jones is fine."

Nothing was fine as far as he was concerned but all he had to do was play along. They had rehearsed his cover story until he knew it back to front. He needed to use his injuries to his advantage. If her plan worked it would result in her dad helping them to escape. She had also come up with a new plan to ensure nobody came after them. Her dad was sure to mourn her leaving so she was going to fake her death by getting her father to plant a rumor that she had been afraid of a green eyed man who had been out to kill her. The rumor would travel and hopefully the hunt would be called off as the trail ran cold. She would be dead and he would be vanished.

But first he had to get through this part. Mr Jones was heavier set that the average man from the sector although he still had the height. Sam put it down to Mercedes' fantastic cooking. His voice was deep and booming as he addressed Sam. "What the hell happened to you?"

"My father found out that I was seeing a girl from this sector and he wasn't happy."

"So he beat you?"

"Yes sir. He told me to stop seeing her but I said that I couldn't. I love your daughter and I love our unborn child and we want to go somewhere that we can legally marry and be a proper family." He stood behind Mercedes and placed a protective hand on her soft rounded belly. There was no sense in wasting the perfect opportunity to actually touch her beautiful softness. "He said if I was to do that then I was no longer a son of his. Mercedes said that her father was far more loving and accepting and even if I lost the family from my Sector we would always have you."

They knew that it was a play straight at the heart strings but it was their best shot. Mr Jones looked at him with an expression that clearly said that he would like to have been the one inflicting bruises for touching his only daughter, but he was the better man, and there was no way that he could harm somebody who had already taken a beating in been disowned for the sake of his daughter.

"And you love my daughter?"

"Yes sir, very much, and I want to marry her as soon as possible."

"Even though she's only nineteen?"

"_Nineteen!_" That was news to him. He knew she was young but he hadn't counted on her being _that_ young. On the whole she definitely acted far more maturely. Unfortunately they had reached the point of no return! He felt her place her hand over his in an attempt to calm him.

"I'm nearly-"

"You're still nineteen Mercedes! And how old are you son?"

"Twenty seven sir." He didn't think fast enough to lie. Now he felt Mercedes respond in shock. She clearly thought he was younger. This was going to be more of an issue that he thought!

Mr Jones was not happy. "And you know that the law in our Sector says that a girl must be twenty one before she marries?"

_Oh shit! Why hadn't she told him any of this beforehand? _"No sir. I wasn't aware of that. In my Sector girls are free to marry once they turn eighteen and I thought that the same applied here."

"But daddy!" Mercedes was in full pleading mode. "You know that law was changed only recently to up the age. And I can still get married with parental consent."

"And why would I give my consent to this?"

"Because it's your grandchild!"

"Who I will never be able to see!" For the first time Sam could see just how pained Mr Jones looked at the whole situation. "Imagine how I feel. I hear a rumor from Rachel Berry of all people that you'd been spotted fornicating. Then you throw this on me!"

"I'm sorry dad! I really am. I didn't mean for this to happen. I didn't mean to fall for him!"

"This is why I didn't want you to take that job in the Transit Sector. You don't need to mix with other people. Everything you need is right here. Why do you have to go and find difficulty and bring it back with you? Why couldn't you be like your brothers?"

"Because I'm _not them_! I'm nothing like them and never have been. You know that ever since I was small I've been fascinated by Outside-"

"You and your Outside! Nothing good ever happens Outside. What happened to your job? You lose it because somebody got _killed _there. There's diners here you can work in where you will be safe! Where you won't meet men who are only interested in you for carnal reasons! Everyone knows that Sector 17 women are the most beautiful and you allowed yourself to be taken when there are so many men here who are far more worthy of you."

"I've made my choice father!"

"I know!"

Sam could see the tears in the man's eyes and he felt for him. He was a man suddenly realizing that he was about to lose both his child and his theoretical grandchild. "You can't travel in your condition. It's not safe!"

"It's perfectly safe you know that. And you know mom would have said it was safe now too. But she also would have said that I would have to leave as soon as possible before I get too big to travel."

"And then I'll never see you again?"

"No dad. You won't. But you'll know that I'm fine which is something you would never quite be sure of if I stayed here."

Mr Jones looked at Sam's bruised face and shook his head, seeing that there was no way that he could prevent the inevitable from happening. Instead, all he could do was come up with a plan to help them and give them the best chance possible. So with that in mind, the three of them sat down together and came up with a plan for their departure.

* * *

**_Okay, this was a superlong chapter. I should know by now that short stories by me are never short. Plus I wanted to include the answers to people's questions which also made the chapters grow. But this story has already reached the half way point._**


	4. The Outside: Part 1

_**I said something about the next chapters being short. I lied. This one wanted to be epic, so epic that I've split it into two and this part is still huge! I wish my brain let me write drabble style...**_

* * *

Mr Jones gave him ten days. Ten days to rest and let his injuries heal before they left for Outside. Those ten days were torture for Sam. He knew the old man hated him, he would feel the same if he was in his position, and yet he was still being kind. And the kindness was killing him. By the third day he would have infinitely preferred a second beating to sitting sharing meals at the table of the man whose life he was ruining.

Mercedes had pleaded his case and somehow managed to get her father to agree to keep his presence a secret. He now had free run to move about the house but was still a prisoner inside of it. Hezekiah Jones didn't like the idea of leaving his daughter alone in the house with Sam when he went to work, but figured the damage had already been done and his daughter had work projects of her own to finish before she left. The thing Mr Jones _was_ able to ruin was their sleeping arrangement. He may not have been able to control what happened in the day, but he could certainly control what happened in the night. The camping mat was moved into his room and Sam spent nights listening to deep snores instead of late night whispered conversations in the dark. Her soothing voice and songs were no longer there to help him with the nightmares and the lack of sleep was making him cranky. It was also harder because whenever Mr Jones was around, he needed to make sure that he had the colored lenses in his eyes. Their story of her avoiding a green eyed man had to hold true, even for him if it was going to come over as genuine.

The more Sam spoke to Mercedes as the days passed, the more he realized that she had put a lot of thought and planning into what she was going to do. She had sat down and showed him the items she had already put together for the journey. They ranged from the water filter and purification tablets to medicine, and the most amazing dehydrated food he had ever seen. It was small individually wrapped cubes in different flavors, that, when mixed with either hot or cold water, made a more than generous and filling portion of a nutritionally balanced porridge. She even had four types of medicine, one each for pain, fever, allergy and infection. It pretty much covered most eventualities but it was difficult when you were limited in what it was physically possible to carry.

Taking him into her younger brother's room one day, Mercedes showed him his camping equipment. "He won't be needing these anymore so you can have them." Sam took the backpack, sleeping bag, and mat as well as both clothing and shoes that fit.

"Do you miss your brother?" He had to ask. She didn't talk about him much.

"Sometimes. But it's hard. I'm used to him not being around. Training begins at the age of thirteen. He comes home for one month every year. That month ended a few weeks ago, which is why he has these things. Each time we see him he's grown significantly and we buy him a few sets of clothes but he always leaves them behind. They only wear simple robes at the Academy where he's taught so he has no need for them there. I guess for us they're more for sentimental value than anything else. By the time he comes back he would have outgrown them again so it doesn't really matter what you take."

She was sitting on his bed with a sad expression on her face and he felt bad for her. She wanted to go, but she was going to be leaving a lot behind. Only now was he really starting to see this. "How long will he be at the Academy?"

"Seventeen years."

"_Seventeen!_"

"It takes years of study and training to be a Minister. That's why they start so young. But it's a great thing to be if you can do it and a huge honor to your family. My dad wanted me to marry a Minister. In his ideal world I would stay at home for a couple more years then marry a newly ordained Minister. It would give me a good position in the community but I know that personally it would feel like a death sentence. I would never be able to handle that kind of a lifestyle. It would literally kill me from the inside out."

It was the first time that she had spoken so openly about her feelings and Sam was starting to fully appreciate what exactly it was that made this girl tick. When she said that she didn't belong, she really genuinely meant it.

"Are there other things you need to get? Because... I have money. You're supplying everything and as we're travelling together I need to contribute." The gun wasn't the only thing he'd been hiding away.

"It won't be safe. I can't draw any attention to myself by buying things out of the norm right now. And anyway, I already said I've been saving."

"Well we can pool our finances." He didn't know where this bout of honesty had come from. He'd initially had no intention of declaring his money, but Mercedes was the most devout, decent and trustworthy person he'd ever come across. He wanted her to know and share it.

"How much do you have?"

He told her to wait while he retrieved the paper envelope. Handing it to her she gasped as she looked at the contents. She didn't even count it but he knew it would take her a hell of a long time to make that kind of money making and selling clothes and working a few hours in a diner.

"How come you had so much money on you?"

"It's the first part of my payment that I got at the beginning of the evening. The second part was what I should have collected afterwards in the alley but it wasn't there."

She looked hard at the money before suddenly throwing it on the ground as if it had burned her.

"What's wrong?"

"I can't take it!"

"Why not? It's just money."

"It's _blood _money. I can't accept it!"

"But it can be used to do good!"

She shot him an expression that let him know how frustrated she was that he wasn't understanding. "That money is the value of somebody's life. I don't want it near me. It's your money to do with as you please. Buy yourself whatever you like with it but _I_ want no part of it. I don't want you to spend any of it on me and I don't want to benefit from anything that was bought from it."

"_But Mercedes!_"

She stood. "It's not up for discussion Sam." Turning quickly she left the room, leaving him alone with his thoughts, staring at the envelope on the floor, knowing he had just screwed something up but not being quite sure what exactly it was.

* * *

"Can I ask you a personal question?" He was watching her make careful stitches into some sort of a skirt on another day when she spoke to him without looking at him directly.

"Sure." It didn't bother him to be asked questions but for some reason it really seemed to be bothering her and he was quite curious to find out what it was going to be.

"It's about… your earring. My dad asked me and I couldn't answer. Men in my sector, they don't wear jewelry except for a wedding ring. And even a daring man would never have something as personal as an earring. Yet you… and you… well you have this whole kind of 'hole' in your ear that doesn't make sense to me…" Her voice faded off and she finally met his eyes.

_Of all things for her to be curious about it never occurred to him that it could be something as simple as that. _It might be something unusual to her but it was second nature to him. He raised his fingers to his right ear and stroked the half an inch ring that was embedded in his lobe. It was something unique to his Sector but had figured if she hadn't asked about it right away she wasn't going to. There was no reason to be shy about asking. "It's a common thing for boys in my Sector to have their right ear lobe pierced and stretched. My dad had had his done, and when I was small it was already being done to me. The night my parents… That night, when Zeben rescued me, I took nothing from the house but one of my dad's rings. The hole in his ear was half an inch. Mine was smaller at the time, but I stretched it to the same size so that I could wear his ring. It's the only thing of my past that I have."

"Oh." He expected her to ask to touch it but he didn't. Instead she frowned. "Tattooing and other forms of body modification isn't allowed here." She couldn't meet his eyes. "But it's your way of remembering your family and so I understand it's significance to you. It's your remembrance for them."

_I guess it is. Nobody can take this ring off me easily! _"It's a part of me." He said simply.

Finally she looked back up at him. "Does it hurt?"

"No."

"Did it hurt to do?"

"Not really. You do it gradually."

"Okay." She focused back on her work and never asked about it again.

What he struggled with was the fact that she was only nineteen. She didn't come across as someone that young. Her knowledge was vast which he attributed to her extensive reading and exposure to different types of people in the Transit Sector. And when it came to her looks and her body… well she was definitely _all_-woman. After eating her lunch she would often read for an hour or so before resuming her work. She would curl up on her bed with a book and he would resume his position on her floor, looking through the illustrations of the many textbooks she owned, suddenly for the first time in his life feeling inadequate when it came to his levels of education. Often she would curl up on her side facing away from him as she read, and in doing so, the fabric of her pants would tighten and strain against her ass making his mouth water. He couldn't help it. Women where he was from didn't have an ass like that, and just like her hair, he was aching to touch it, but knew better than to try. Plus the '_do not touch' _vibe that she gave off wasn't just a hint of an aura, it was a whole damn force-field! It was a shame because her looks had him constantly reminding himself of her age and forcing him to keep his thoughts on track and wholesome like she was.

He only thing that really hinted at her youth was the innocent naïveté that she sometimes displayed together with her simplistic outlook on life. A perfect example of that had been his encounter with Michael's mother. Somewhere deep down she must genuinely have thought that they would be all hugs and butterflies and forgiveness. It didn't work that way. You can't rip away a person's child and expect it to be shrugged off as nothing. Even a sweet innocent person can contain rage. The fact that a sweet looking little old lady could beat the shit out him didn't surprise him at all. It clearly shocked Mercedes, but she hadn't seen as much of the dark side of people as he had.

That's not to say that he wasn't trying hard to be the person she wanted him to be because he was. He felt that being the good guy suited him. But every couple of days he would ask her if she was still scared of him and each time she would say 'yes'. At first he liked the idea that she feared him but as time passed he felt the balance of their relationship changing and he could sense that this fear was causing her to hold back from him a little. It pleased him and upset him at the same time and he couldn't work out why.

* * *

By the seventh day his bruises were starting to fade. As he washed his face in the morning he still chuckled. It never ceased to amaze him that all of this damage was caused by a woman. An _old_ woman. A _tiny_ old woman. A woman who, in his own sector, he would have had every right to hit back and faced no recourse whatsoever.

The chuckle stopped. It wasn't funny at all. Mercedes' words from the first night rang in his ears about how differently she would be treated in his Sector because of who she was. If the roles were reversed, she would have found nobody to shelter her or tend her wounds. His story of being beaten for standing up for insisting on being in love with her was a stretch, not because of the beating, but because in reality it would have been by more than just his father, and he would not have been able to get up and walk away after it.

Those somber thoughts stayed with him all day. The world definitely wasn't right. Maybe there _was_ somewhere better that they could be.

The last couple of days were hard. He could tell that the reality of leaving was starting to hit Mercedes hard. She was going to have to say goodbye to her family. For good. He wanted to reach out to her but she seemed to be shutting him out and it hurt more than it really should have. He didn't owe her anything. He was doing her a favor by going along with her, albeit a favor that also helped him too.

Even though it went against everything he was, the loner man of few words, he wouldn't have minded talking to her about it. Except that for the first time, the girl that he had nearly shot on more than one occasion simply because she wouldn't shut up, was not talking about the one thing that she probably should have been. And here was he feeling proud for opening up to her. In the two weeks that they had been around each other, he had opened up to her far more than anyone else in his whole life. Zeben had clothed and fed him but he was in no way a confidante.

What he didn't expect was to meet her elder brother. Daniel Jones had keys to the house and let himself in on their penultimate evening during dinner. When he saw Sam there he was pissed off for a whole heap of reasons, the worst being that he had not been consulted at all in this. They were going to let him honestly believe that she was dead. Mercedes' eyes welled up as she assured him it was the best. The less people who knew the truth, the less who had to hold on to the burden of that lie. The grief would still be grief, one way or the other, but in this sense it would be more real. They sat him down and told him the same version of events as they had told her father. Daniel said nothing before asking to speak to Sam outside for a moment. This time Mercedes did look scared for him after having learned her lesson from the Michael incident, but her father simply nodded and he followed the larger man through the door like a man walking towards death row. His only calming thought was than in this Sector, murder was frowned upon so he was unlikely to be killed by this huge muscular man.

What did happen was that he was pinned to the wall by his throat and threatened to within an inch of his life before being shoved to the floor as the unlikely sight of tears appeared in the other man's eyes and he suddenlyly turned and left the house, slamming the door on his way out. Mercedes immediately came, looked at the front door and flew to his side as he sat against the wall, still regaining his breath from the chokehold. She looked scared for him and he didn't blame her. "Are you okay? Did he hurt you?"

Sam shook his head. "I'm fine." Yet again, the pain of the strangle hold was nothing compared to what Daniel must have been feeling right now. This time she looked at him with sadness and insisted on helping him to his feet, stoking his face gently as she looked at him intently to make sure that he wasn't hurt.

Her father came out of the dining room and stood in the doorway, just silently watching their exchange and saying nothing. Sam just wanted to lie down on his makeshift bed and be left alone with his thoughts. He'd never in his whole life he'd spent a fraction of the time thinking over the consequences of his actions, as he had over the last few days. Thinking about how different people were affected and what they would then have to live with forevermore.

He had just laid down and assured Mercedes for the third time that he was fine when he heard the door again. Daniel had returned. Of course he would. He touched Mercedes' arm. "Go and talk to him. He loves you. He just wanted to make sure that I would always take care of you because he can't be there to."

Mercedes nodded, cast him one final sad look, and left to join the men again. Sam didn't even bother getting changed. He just lay there and listened to the sound of their voices until he fell into his usual fitful sleep.

* * *

When the day arrived the mood was somber. They were up before daylight, the plan, to leave just before dawn, giving them the entire day to travel before her father would raise the alarm at nightfall. It would give them the chance to cover as much distance as possible.

They ate breakfast in silence and Mercedes embraced her father for the final time. He touched Mercedes' belly gently and Sam again felt terrible for the lie that they were feeding him about her pregnancy. He then acknowledged Sam with a nod and Sam felt tears pricking his own eyes and he wasn't even sure who the hell they were for.

And then it was finally happening. They retraced the steps that he vaguely remembered them making the night he was wounded, before hitting the wall and passing through to the Outside with the grass and the trees.

"Are you okay Mercedes?"

She'd said nothing from the moment they had stepped out of her house. "We need to cover as much distance as possible Sam." Her eyes remained straight ahead as the rising sun started to illuminate their route. It was still bitterly cold until the sun fully rose and he watched her breath condense as she spoke and he zipped his fleece right up to his chin.

"So let's do this."

He watched as she pulled out her compass, waited for everything on it to stop moving, then pointed in the direction they needed to walk. They walked for hours in silence. The trees became thinner and the area became more grassy. They stopped for a snack and a drink then continued. The whole time, in complete silence.

"You know they'll be okay, don't you."

"I know."

"Daniel and his family will move in with your dad and it will be the distraction he needs, especially with their second baby on the way."

"I said I know!" She adjusted the strap of her backpack on her shoulder and continued walking, leaving him to stare at her ass as she walked on ahead. Finally stopping she turned, shooting him a frustrated look. "Are you coming?"

"Are you going to ignore me for this entire journey? Because I don't think I signed up for the permanent cold shoulder when I agreed to this!" He hadn't meant to sound so harsh in his tone but he still wasn't really used to dealing with people, especially girls, on the one to one in situations like this, and his frustration at not being able to help her was starting to show.

She sighed. "I'm sorry Sam. I'm just still adjusting to the fact that I've just made a life changing decision that I can never go back on." She stopped walking and stared at the ground. "This is real. This is actually happening. I've burned my bridges so even if I wanted to I _can't go back!_"

He laughed bitterly. "Welcome to my world. There's only one thing you can do when you're in this position." Taking her arm, he gently guided her to start walking again. "You just have to keep moving forward til you get to where you're going. And that's exactly what we're doing."

"Yeah. I guess we are."

They walked for a few moments before Sam realized his arm was still linked with hers and he awkwardly removed it. "Why don't you sing?"

"Sing?"

"Yeah. When you sing it helps me feel better. I can't believe it doesn't make you feel better too. Maybe you can teach me one of your songs."

"Teach you?"

"Yeah. I'm not a bad singer you know!"

For the first time that day she cracked a smile. "Really?"

"Yeah. Really!"

"So sing something."

He did. And her jaw dropped. "Wow! You _can_ sing!"

"That's what I just said! Duh! So teach me something?"

She looked up at him as if he was full of surprises and he felt good, like he had managed to break through some sort of a wall with her. "Okay. I'll teach you something."

He walked closer to her and listened as she effortlessly belted out a melody and literally felt her mood lighten as she did so. They walked and walked. He was hungry but didn't dare mention it. He knew that they needed to travel as far as they could today and that any stoppages would lessen the distance they would make. Eventually though, the sun of the day did start to fade. "We're going to have to find somewhere to set up camp."

She nodded. As it grew darker the temperature rapidly dropped and he could tell that she was getting cold. In just a day the landscape had already started changing. The next large tree they came across is where they decided to stop for the night. The pop up tent took seconds to assemble and within minutes they were sitting, watching the water heat on the tiny camping stove.

"I still can't believe we're doing this," she said quietly, not taking her eyes off the water which was now starting to form tiny bubbles at the bottom. "It's nearly curfew. Dad will be just about to raise the alarm."

Sam said nothing, willing the water to boil faster so that he would have something to do with his hands again. "He'll be fine."

"I know. But it still hurts. It's not a life I could have lived forever but it's still all I've ever known."

She watched as Sam took their compressible mugs and bowls from his bag before placing a small cube in each bowl. "I thought as this was our first night we'd go with milk chocolate to eat and white chocolate to drink."

She nodded, not looking as if she would disagree with him on anything right now. They ate in silence, grateful for the warm food in their bellies as the night chill started to kick in. Sam finished his quickly. "This food is surprisingly good!" It was a marvel. He'd been so hungry before but now he wasn't. Mercedes still had plenty left though. She seemed distracted. "You need to keep your energy up Mercedes."

"I know. But I'm not hungry. My stomach's in knots right now. You finish this, I've still got my drink to go."

Satisfied that she'd eaten enough for not and was going to get more energy from the drink he finished her portion and cleaned the bowl. "I was thinking. As it's nearly dark and getting colder by the second, we should have our drinks in the tent."

She nodded. "Good idea." Looking up at the sky and standing, she grabbed her bag. "I just going to… to do my thing. Before it gets completely dark."

"Sure. Just stay within yelling distance."

"Of course."

The second she disappeared from sight he felt alone and busied himself with setting up for the night. The tent wasn't very big. Barely enough room for the both of them with a small strip of space in between them, and only tall enough for them to sit up, not stand. He rolled out their sleeping mats and sleeping bags. Pillows were a luxury they couldn't carry so it had to be folded up clothing. They had three wind-up flashlights, one of which stood upright on its own, and he put it in the center of the tent to light it. When Mercedes returned he handed her her drink and excused himself to handle his own business. By the time he got back she was inside her sleeping bag with a hat on her head.

"Do you mind if I turn out the light?"

"Sure. I'm tired."

"Okay. Goodnight Mercedes."

"Goodnight Sam."

And then he plunged them into darkness.

It was cold. _Really cold. _He couldn't sleep and judging by the lack of the sound of her regular heavy breathing next to him, neither was she. He contemplated grabbing an extra piece of clothing from his bag but that involved moving, and he was too cold for that.

"Was your home sector very far away?"

Her voice cut through the darkness and she was whispering, even though technically there was no longer any need for them to have to be quiet.

He shifted slightly so that he was facing towards her voice. The cold was biting and the tip of his nose was suffering. "It took two days to drive. I'd been living in Transit Sector for a week."

"So did you go there specifically to- no, sorry, I won't ask... So you can drive?"

"Yeah. Can you?"

"Girls don't learn to drive in my Sector. Or rather, girls aren't taught... It's a skill which won't really help us out here anyway."

"I guess not. But if you'd had the choice would you have learned?"

"Of course."

"Girls in my sector can drive. They're actually considered safer drivers. They can train to be doctors too."

"Sounds idyllic."

"It's not. They face other pressures, to look a certain way, act a certain way, and everyone wants to be popular. It gets quite vicious sometimes and they can be really cruel to each other. Genuine friendship and loyalty are rare. It's all about appearances. Plus there's a lot of loveless marriages. I'm sure that can't be easy."

"I'm sure it isn't. My parents married for love and I can't imagine it any other way."

"I don't think there is any other way. Not if you want to be truly happy."

There was silence for a long while. "Did you leave anyone behind?"

"Huh?"

"I mean, well, I got to say my goodbyes, sort of, but you were already far away from home and had to run in literally the clothes you were standing in. Was there someone you wished you could have said goodbye to?"

Sam thought through all the people in his life. He didn't have close friends, he was a loner and always had been. Even when it came to women there was nobody special. Sure there had been those who had fulfilled a need, but it was only on a physical level, not an emotional one. Zeben was the only person who had been consistent in his life. And Zeben had clearly ordered his erasure the moment he had failed to kill Mercedes. There was no payment for the job done. No second chance. Zeben, the man he had been closest to, had signed his death warrant without a moment's hesitation. There was no going back for Alex.

The silence seemed to disturb her. "I'm guessing that if you have to think about it that long, then the answer is no."

He shuffled slightly in his sleeping bag. Only slightly because too much movement ran the risk of touching a cold part of the bag and that was really not fun. Plus there was a prickling sensation at the back of his eyes that he really wasn't happy with.

"I'm sorry." Her voice was soft but it still pierced the dark night. "I can't begin to imagine what it's like to have no one."

"Don't be sorry. I've managed all this time."

Another pause. "You know you have me, right?"

"Of course."

"I'm glad."

"So am I. It's good to know." And it was. Good, that is. A heavy silence fell after that, neither of them asleep yet neither of them speaking. It was too cold to move within their little coocoons and they waited impatiently for the next day to break.

Getting up was hard. They were tired, sore and cold. Thankfully the camping stove was quick to heat the water for them to make a hot breakfast and have a hot drink. It wasn't quite light yet but they needed to get something inside them. Cold fingers made packing up difficult and progress was slower until the day warmed up. By mid-morning the temperature was bearable and my midday it was positively warm. With the warming of the temperature came a warming of their mood and they talked about funny things they remembered from when they were small until Sam had a funny memory of his sister that made him sad and Mercedes had to change the subject.

As they covered the ground the landscape began to change even more. Trees were almost non-existent now and hills rolled as far as the eye could see. By evening there was no tree for them to set up their tent under. As the darkness fell the cold returned quickly. Sam tried bringing the stove inside the tent but it was cold when it was off, and the compact fuel pack that ran it was only good for one hundred hours and there was no telling how long this journey was going to take. They had limited themselves to a maximum of one hour usage per day, less if at all possible, just in case things took longer than they had planned, and Mercedes had assured him that as they got further south the temperature would get warmer and they would need it less.

For a second night they froze in the tent. This time they were too cold even to speak to each other, and yet again they got little if any sleep.

Travel was even harder going the next day and the lack of sleep was definitely starting to take its toll. He felt grouchy, Mercedes was definitely grouchy and their initial enthusiasm had completely waned.

By the third night it was clear this was not going to work. Sam knew what_ would_ work, but he didn't know how to suggest it without sounding like a creep. They were both sitting with their post meal hot drinks, sipping slowly to make the moment last as long as possible to put off the inevitable. In the end he decided to just bite the bullet and speak, but she clearly also chose exactly that moment to do the same.

"So I was thinking maybe-"  
"There's a scripture that says-"

They both laughed nervously at having spoken over each other after such an extended silence and he smiled at her. "You first."

"No, it's okay-"

"Seriously. I'll do mine after. What was it that you were trying to say?"

She shifted her hands nervously. "There's this verse in the bible that says… well, you know how it's so cold at night, it sort of says that… In Ecclesiastes… Look I'll just show you and you can read it for yourself..."

Sam shook his head. He wasn't going to be reading anything if he could help it. He doubted she knew just how bad his education was and he didn't want her to know either. Plus he really couldn't understand why, with her limited space, she had still insisted on carrying a small bible "Its ok. You don't need to move. Just quote it or paraphrase it to me."

She shot him a look and then closed her eyes, seeming to find it easier to do this if she wasn't looking at him. "You might think this is weird but there's a passage that says… that if two lie down together, they can keep warm because how can a person keep warm on their own?"

The words brought a smile to his lips. "Are you trying to say what I think you're saying Mercedes?"

She refused to meet his eyes. "What I'm saying is that our sleeping bags can be zipped together to make one big bag and we can sleep together for warmth." Her words came out quickly and nervously. "But it doesn't matter... What were you going to say?"

"The same."

Her head spun as she quickly looked up at him. "The same?"

"Yeah. Only without the bible quote obviously." He ignored her shocked expression to continue talking. "Look, think about this rationally. We're cold at night and it's preventing us from sleeping. This makes us tired during the day, slows down our pace and puts us at increased risk of sickness and injury. Plus sleep deprivation will ultimately affect out thinking abilities and make us more likely to make stupid mistakes, not to mention the fact that we're both getting grouchy. We need our sleep, and if being together is what it takes to get it, then I'm more than prepared to do that if you are."

She looked at him uncertainly. "I guess I am. I just don't want you to think that I'm inviting…"

"Look, we're just two people travelling together. You happen to be a girl and I happen to be a guy. There's nothing more to it than that. If I was going to be a threat to you while you slept I would have taken many of the multiple opportunities I've already had. But I'm not. This is all above board. You're cold, I'm cold. You're tired, I'm tired. Let's just do this already!"

She looked as if she was going to argue but didn't.

Initially it was awkward. The bags were zipped together but neither wanted to be the first to lie down. Eventually they decided to do it at the same time. It was rapidly getting too cold to be stupid and the tent itself was only tall enough for sitting up. Once inside the bag with their hats on, Sam zipped it up. If it was physically possible, Mercedes still seemed to have managed to leave a gap between them. But they weren't going to get warm unless they were completely pressed together.

"Mercedes, are you still scared of me?"

It was dark so he couldn't read her facial expression. "Why?"

"Because you need to move closer. And to do that you need to trust me. And you can't fully trust me if you're scared of me."

There was a long pause. "I'm not scared of you."

"Then come closer. I promise I won't harm you. Listen, I promised your father that I would take care of his baby girl and I'm a man of my word. I won't let anything bad happen and I won't cause anything bad."

He could tell that she was resisting. But he could also tell that she was still cold so he persisted one last time. "You're an intelligent girl. You know how this has to work if it's going to work at all." Finally he felt her reluctantly press her chest against his and instantly felt a transference of warmth.

"There. That wasn't so hard was it!" He enjoyed a few moments of finally feeling comfortable. Her head was nestled under his chin and he slipped one arm around her in what he hoped was a non-creepy way. "Goodnight Mercedes."

Judging by her breathing, the exhausted girl was already asleep.

Sam woke up first. He was warm. Warm and comfortable. Somehow his arms were completely wrapped around Mercedes and he didn't dare move them in case the sudden coldness it would cause to her back woke her up. Instead, he took the opportunity to savor the feeling of waking up in somebody's arms. It had never happened before. The women he had been with had all been long gone before the morning reality came knocking. And now here he was, with this girl pressed against his chest, having had the best night sleep he'd had in what felt like forever. As far as he could recall he didn't even have a nightmare.

Mercedes murmured and nestled her head against his chest. He held his breath for a second, seeing if she was going to wake up and break the moment, but thankfully she didn't. It was good because he was only just starting to admit to himself that he was enjoying this moment. For all the times he had stared at her soft body when she wasn't looking, trying to work out how good it would feel, nothing was close to the reality. Until now, all he had in his brain's archives were the brief second he had rolled her along the ground on the night they had met. But now he had the luxury of taking time to make a more detailed appreciation of her. The hat on her head tickled his nose and her face was turned away from his. But the absolute best part was her breasts. They were like soft warm cushions and they were pressed right up against him. Chest to chest, the best way to get warmth from each other, but he was sure they hadn't been pressed up this close to each other when they had fallen asleep.

Those breasts though. They felt amazing. Women in his Sector just didn't have breasts like that. Too much emphasis was placed on a slender frame for something like that to happen naturally. There was currently a trend back home for women to have surgically enhanced breasts. They looked good but they felt like crap. They were as hard as the frames of the women who bore them. He should know, he'd felt enough of them in his time. And now he had the softest, warmest pair of breasts pressed against him and he was already feeling sad for the moment that she would wake up and pull away from him.

He felt the moment she finally woke up. First she snuggled, unaware of her surroundings. Then, as she remembered where she was, she stiffened.

"Morning Mercedes. Sleep well?"

She nodded without looking at him and he knew that she was blushing. But this was the way it was going to be if they wanted to get any sleep at night.

They soon got into a routine. Days were spent walking while nights were spent cuddling and talking. It was strictly platonic, she was just a kid after all, although mostly in the morning his brain had to remind other parts of his body about that minor detail.

* * *

After eleven days it rained. They were walking through a landscape with trees and rocky hills when Mercedes spotted the dark swirling clouds first. "Sam, I think there's rain coming."

He followed her gaze back up the hill they had just travelled over. "I think you're right. Maybe we should find a tree and set up camp early so we can wait it out."

She said nothing, staring at the rapidly approaching cloud intently. "It's not that kind or rain Sam. We need proper shelter."

"Are you sure?"

She frowned at him and her expression made him feel like he was a little bit stupid. "Look at the way those clouds are formed and the speed they're moving. This isn't just a rain shower!"

He looked again and couldn't help but feel that she was right. In the moments they had spent talking it was already growing darker and thunder rumbled in the distance. "We need to head for the trees Sam, and we need to RUN!"

The sudden fear in her tone was infectious and he followed without question as she sped towards the trees. The darkness seemed to follow them like a shadow and he felt his levels of anxiety rising. He was still looking for a big tree to shelter under but she seemed to be looking for something else.

It was getting darker by the second.

"Over there!"

"Where?" She was pointing but he couldn't make out what she was pointing at. Taking his had she pulled him behind her and he allowed himself to be dragged through the thickening undergrowth.

"This would be perfect but I'm scared of what might already be inside." Somehow she had managed to find a crack in the rocky side of the hill. The wind had suddenly and rapidly picked up and he now understood why just a tree wasn't going to be enough.

He was feeling just as anxious as her but there was no way he was going to show it. "Come on." Tightening his grip on her hand he led them closer. At the entrance he stopped, reaching for the flashlights in his bag. For all they knew, they weren't the only creatures looking for shelter from the oncoming storm. He had his gun but didn't want her to know that unless it was absolutely necessary. Holding two lights in front of him, he shone it into the darkness and was relieved to see that the crack led into some sort sheltered cave. It wasn't that big a space and there was nothing in it. At least nothing large. It was at least four times as large as their tent with stone walls all around. "I think its okay but I just want to be sure." Rushing back out he grabbed a fallen branch and used it to sweep the ground of the small cave, making sure there were no snakes or other nasties underfoot. Once he was confident that there wasn't, he pitched their tent and put their bags inside it. "We'll sit and wait here until it stops."

She shook her head. "No. It could take a while. We should gather some firewood."

The sound of the wind had already reached a howl and he wasn't keen on venturing back outside. "If we get wet we won't be able to get warm."

"If we have no fire we won't be able to get warm! Plus it will prevent anything else from coming in."

She stared at him hard and won the argument. Leaving the upright flashlight on, they headed out. It was horrible. The wind was already picking up towards a gale. "Just grab what you can!" She shouted to him.

They filled their arms and dumped the wood back into the cave. "We need more than this! Plus dry leaves and grass for kindling!"

"I think we have enough! Mercedes. It's getting wild out there!"

"I'm going back!"

Before he could stop her she was gone. _How the hell was he supposed to keep her safe if she was going to act irresponsibly like this?_ "Mercedes come back!" He ran after her and tried to pull as she gathered more.

"Just help me Sam!"

He didn't want to, but as he was already out here he might as well. Big drops of water were starting to land on him as were cold hard pieces that felt more like hail. "_Run!_"

They fled towards the cave and managed to squeeze in just before the hail came down in earnest. Sam dumped his collection down with the rest before turning and glaring at her. "Don't you _ever_ run off like that again!"

Her spine straightened. "Don't speak to me like I'm a child!"

"Then don't behave like one!"

"Sam. We're going to need to keep a fire going here. Once the rain falls and everything is wet we'll have nothing to feed the fire with. For all we know we could be stuck in here for days. It was worth the risk. What it wasn't worth was you shouting at me like that!"

"I was scared! You were like a kid running out into the middle of the road towards oncoming traffic!"

The illustration went down badly. "As far as you're concerned, I'm just a kid, and that's all I ever will be!"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It doesn't matter!" She turned her back to him which made him even more mad.

"Clearly it does to you!"

"Look, just forget it. Okay? There are more important things at stake right now, like the fact that we need to get a fire going right now and dry off a bit!"

He'd never seen her raise her voice and lose it like that before. She didn't speak to him for the rest of the day and quite frankly he was glad. He hadn't been lying when he said that he got scared when she ran back out. He just hated the fact that he'd had to admit it.

* * *

The rain lasted for three days solid and it was hard on the both of them. Lack of light was an issue, as was the cold. Sam had apologized for his outburst and by day three could have kissed her for her last minute suggestion of going out for more firewood. Even with the extra they were going through it at an alarming rate. They needed to keep the fire going and the solid rain outside meant there was no way they would be able to find any more dry kindling.

The days were boring and long. The perpetual gray sky and howling outside causing their moods to be low. And with no idea how long the bad weather was going to last, the feeling of claustrophobia grew worse and worse with each waking hour. Clearly nervous, Mercedes was in full chatter mood and much as he loved the sound of her voice, her incessant talking in the background was taking its toll and it took every ounce of his willpower to hold himself back from snapping at her. Yes it would stop her from talking, but then he would feel bad, she would be upset, and being in such a confined place with such a bad atmosphere was the recipe for a complete disaster of epic proportions. Especially as he still had the gun.

The key to them staying warm was to stay dry. The unfortunate problem was that calls of nature due to the constant hot drinks they were having to stay warm, were taking them outside in the wet. The only thing they did not have an issue with was water. Leaving out their mugs and bowls they quickly replenished their stock and ran it through the filter. The only external entertainment they had was a small set of playing cards and they had resorted to actually making up games to entertain themselves. Sam only knew games that involved gambling and she refused to play them so they'd had to reach a compromise. In the end they'd managed to have some laughs over it. The acoustics of the cave was also excellent for singing and the making up of new songs also passed some of the time when they weren't being mad at each other.

Still, by day three, things were understandably strained. Thankfully they woke up on the fourth morning to sunlight and birdsong. The ground outside was extremely wet and waterlogged in some places, but it was a relief just to get out. The intensity of the sunshine after the rain was drying the area rapidly, despite the cover from the trees, and much as they were both ready to move on, they came to the decision to wait one more day for the ground to dry a little before moving on. They each only had one spare set of shoes and it made no sense to get them wet and muddy. But just the knowledge that they were going to move on made the mood lighter. They giggled and laughed as they played a card game which required speed and dexterity, and by speed and dexterity it meant attempting to slap away the other person's hand when a card was put down that you wanted. The constant brushing together of their fingers made him feel warm, just like the night-time sleeping, until he remembered who it was and how young she was and the guilt started to set in. There was something not right about the way he was starting to feel about her, even after three days of her incessant chatter driving him to distraction.

* * *

Days turned into weeks as they continued to travel. The landscape changed as did the weather. The nights gradually grew warmer and they days were starting to get positively hot. Part of the increased daytime temperature was because they were moving, but there was a definite change in climate. Despite the extended travelling time Mercedes was positive. She explained to him that the change in climate was a good sign, that they were travelling in the correct direction. The weather by the Sea was warm, even in the evenings. All indications were that they were definitely well on their way to reaching the Sea.

The food situation was starting to worry him. Even though their food was ultra-compact, they were still getting through it at a rapid rate. When they entered wooded areas, Mercedes was often able to identify berries and sometimes fruits that were safe for them to eat. They would gorge on those days, happy for a respite from the endless porridge they had been eating. But it still wasn't enough. The desire to chew on food rather than just slurp on it with a spoon was getting stronger by the day. And as for the craving for meat- it was something that he found it better to simply not think about.

Often they would follow the course of rivers as they travelled, ensuring they had a constant source of water as well as the opportunity for regular bathing. Mercedes was nervous of bathing alone and of bathing with him. They had an agreement to bathe at the same time for safety, but back to back. And mostly he honored his promise not to peek. But only mostly. He was human after all, and she was so… so soft…

They were both tired, he knew they were, but he was still surprised when she suddenly made a statement one day after breakfast.

"I don't feel like walking today."

Sam looked at her, surprised. "Okay..."

"We've been walking for weeks and I think we should rest a bit so that we don't get sick. I don't feel too great today and don't want to come down with something."

It was true. Although they'd had some late starts and early stops for extra rest, other than the time that it had rained, they had never taken a whole day off. And looking at her face, she did look tired. Far more tired than usual. She'd also spent far longer getting ready in the morning than usual too.

He didn't need much convincing but she still seemed to feel that she had to. "We're in a good location, we have shelter, the river and food in the forest. And we can walk more tomorrow."

"It's fine Mercedes. I'm happy to rest. It's you I'm concerned about. Are you sure you're okay?"

"Me? Yeah I'm fine."

"But you said you weren't feeling too great. Are you sick?" He reached forward to touch her forehead but she jerked away suddenly. Other than when they slept together, she wasn't really a fan of being touched. But this was even worse than usual.

"I'm okay. I just want to go back to sleep for a little bit."

Not knowing what else to do, he let her, leaving her to rest while he went to gather some fruit and berries from the forest. There were plenty of things on offer but Mercedes only picked those that she recognized, knowing that there could be highly poisonous foods next to things that were perfectly fine. She had brought medicine for allergies, but they weren't going to waste it because of having eaten something that they shouldn't. By this point Sam knew some of what he could pick, and decided to get some of the sweet berries to cheer her up. Feeling proud of his collection, together with the plain mushrooms he knew were safe, and that provided a much needed 'bite' to their porridge, he hurried back to the tent.

He quickly regretted hurrying when his foot caught on a tree root that he hadn't seen and he landed heavily on his left knee. "Shit!" His first attempt at standing resulted in the knee buckling and him lying back on the ground. A second attempt was more successful but agonizing. It was a slow and painful hobble back to where they were camped. It was the worst possible thing that could happen and he could have cursed himself for being less careful with where he was stepping.

"What's wrong Sam?" After resting up a little to see if it helped, he had just limped over to pick something up when he heard her voice behind him.

"It's okay." He wanted to reassure her but her face said she was anything but reassured.

"No it isn't. You're hurt. What happened?"

There was something about Mercedes which made him incapable of lying to her. "I fell. I think I twisted my knee but I'm sure it'll be fine."

She was already feeling his knee through his pants and he winced in pain as she pressed down on it. "How long ago did it happen?"

"A couple of hours ago."

"A couple of hours! And you didn't say anything?"

"I didn't want to bother you."

"You being injured doesn't bother me. But you leaving it untreated for the first couple of hours does!" She glared at him and he felt chastened. "Can you walk on it?"

"Not well."

She looked as if she might curse but she didn't. She never did. As well as being an Angel she was also a fucking saint! Before he had a chance to react she'd already propped his foot up and was rolling up the leg of his pants.

"What are you doing?"

"What you should have done a couple of hours ago."

Sam was shocked to see just how swollen his knee actually was when she uncovered it. She kissed her teeth at the sight. It was actually throbbing and painful but he didn't want to admit to it even though he knew that she could already tell. She sighed and shook her head. "What am I going to do with you?"

He grinned back at her to lighten the mood. "Keep me?"

"Shut up!" Despite her tone she was smiling.

Just like she had on the night they met, she unraveled a long piece of cloth from her hair, but this time she used it to bind his knee tightly. "Keep your leg raised and make sure the bandage stays tight. I'll be back in a minute."

After disappearing for a bit she returned with her dinner bowl full of river water and a cloth. Dipping the cloth in the water she then placed it over his knee. It was cold. "Keep doing this to cool down the injury and reduce the swelling. Don't worry about bandages getting wet. It just makes them, colder anyway."

He took the items from her and continued with the treatment. She disappeared into the tent and returned with two pills. "Take these for the pain."

Shaking his head he refused. "I'm fine." He wasn't because his knee hurt like hell, but he knew they only had limited medication. She shot him an emphatic look and he compromised. "I'll take them tonight. That way when you kick me in your sleep it won't hurt so much."

She grinned at that. "I don't kick in my sleep!"

_Maybe you don't kick, but you do snuggle. And I really like it when you do that._

"But seriously Sam," and her face was serious again. "You have to rest your leg. Sit down and keep it up, and definitely don't walk."

"Yes ma'am!"

She rolled her eyes but lost the battle against the smile that played at the corner of her mouth.

"Anyway. You're the one who's not feeling great. Did the extra rest help?"

"I'm fine!" Her angrily snapped reply took him aback. He was only trying to be nice and she was fine until he mentioned it! Sensing it wasn't worth picking her up on her strange mood he decided to let it pass. "Well it's a good job this is a rest day for us. And I'm sorry but I'm not sure I'll be up for walking tomorrow either."

She shook her head. "This will set us back three or four days at least!"

"I'm sure I won't need that long!"

"Sam. We're walking all day every day. It makes no sense to strain yourself again when you can heal properly the first time."

He could have kicked himself for being such an idiot and getting himself hurt. "I'm sorry for the time we're losing." He felt bad holding them back because of his own clumsiness.

"It's fine." He watched her face carefully, expecting her to be fighting back her annoyance but she really did seem to be fine. In fact, he'd even go so far as to say she looked relieved.

Unfortunately she didn't give him the chance to question her on it, instead, quickly leaping up and disappearing into the trees. Minutes later she returned with a big thick stick. "Use this when you have to walk and try not to weight bear too much." Seriously, she thought of everything!

"Thanks Mercedes."

She frowned. "For what?"

"For always taking care of me. I promised your dad I would take care of you but sometimes I feel like it's the other way round!"

She just shrugged but he could tell she did get the meaning of his words. "I got you these. I was bringing them back for you when I fell. I wanted to cheer you up because you weren't feeling well."

He handed her the pouch of sweet berries and she squealed with delight when she saw them. "Thanks Sam. I love these!"

Taking the pouch and a bowl she split the berries into two portions. One she saved for later and the other she put into a bowl. Sitting next to him with the bowl in her lap she cleaned them one by one. "I'm sorry I've been so snappy. I promise I'll improve."

He opened his mouth to reply but she used the opportunity to shove the first berry into his open mouth, making him laugh. By the time he had eaten it she was looking away and he had learned enough about her to know that the actions were telling him to not take what she had said any further and she was all good with him again so he accepted the apology and moved on.

* * *

Sam felt like an idiot. It took him two days being camped with a sore knee to work out what was wrong with Mercedes. Now that he realized, the grouchy mood swings, frequent bathing, clothes washing and disappearing acts could only point to one thing. He hadn't spent huge amounts of time with women, but he knew they had certain times of the month which were difficult. Now that they had been travelling a few weeks it made perfect sense. It also explained why she wanted to stay where they were, where everything was to hand and where she could wash and rest as much as she liked. No wonder she was so relieved they couldn't continue because of his injury.

Luckily, even though he only knew a little, he knew enough to understand that it would be rude of him to mention that he knew what was going on with her, but made sure he was extra considerate just in case.

The time spent in one place gave Mercedes the chance to build a little more confidence going into the forest on her own. Her knowledge rewarded them with a different type of mushroom that she was strangely excited about. They were much larger with darker skins than the small pale ones they had been eating whenever they reached wooded areas. She chopped these new mushrooms and cooked them gently over the camping stove, watching as they reduced in size and developed golden edges before breaking into the small supply of salt that she was carrying, more for medical disinfecting purposes than seasoning, but as a treat, adding a little once the mushrooms had cooked.

Her levels of excitement grew as they cooked and even he felt his mouth watering from the smell. He nearly burned his mouth on the first piece as soon as she handed him his bowl. It was probably one of the most delicious things he had ever tasted! "Wow!"

She grinned back. "I know! We have these at home. They're nearly as good as meat and we use them at home during meat fasts. You have to cook them when they're really fresh. Unfortunately they don't keep well so we can't take them with us."

"So we'll stay an extra day!" After weeks of endless porridge, only recently with the addition of plain mushrooms which added little in the way of taste but provided much desired chewing resistance, this new mushrooms meat-like goodness, was sheer bliss! And not just because it was a break from their usual fare. It was genuinely good!

Luckily Sam's knee improved fast but they stayed an extra couple of days just in case, gorging on the mushrooms and packing as much fruit and berries as they could carry.

Another couple of weeks passed. Sam didn't want to say anything but jis anxiety over their supplies was growing each day. They were getting more and more adventurous with their foraging but the monotony of food was becoming stressful. The highlights weren't the days but the nights. They were getting warmer but there was no question that they wouldn't keep sleeping together. Whatever type of day they had had, even if they were mad at each other in the evening, they would still sleep together and snuggled close. It was like there was some unwritten rule that said the sleeping bag was neutral territory.

Sam loved the sleeping bag. He just hated the little 'problem' of his which he had to be careful not to poke her with in the mornings.

One particular day they were sitting at the top of a hill, resting as it had grown unusually warm and taking the time to enjoy the spectacular view of the valley ahead when she attempted to point something out.

"Sam, when you look down and to the left, what do you see?"

He followed the direction of her pointing finger. Grass. Lots of grass. It would probably make decent farmland because it's so flat. Why do you ask?"

She looked disappointed. "Is that really all you can see?"

"That's all that's there Mercedes. And I know my vision is good. So what are you trying to ask me?"

"I wanted to see if you had it too. You didn't seem to notice so far but I needed to be sure."

"See if I had what? Didn't seem to notice what?"

"Perception. There's the edge of a Transit Sector down there."

Sam squinted hard but still saw nothing. "Really? Are you sure?"

"Positive. We've passed by a few but I thought, with people after you, we should probably stay clear."

Sam was still pissed off at the fact that he still couldn't see the things. "We're far far away from where we were now."

"I know." Her face was serious. "That's why I wanted to make a suggestion. Our supplies are getting worryingly low."

"I noticed. It's been worrying me too but I didn't want to scare you."

"So I was wondering, if you think it was worth a brief trip into a Transit Sector. Just to get some supplies. It's risky but I'm not sure we have much of a choice. I can't say how much longer we have to go before we reach the Sea."

Sam clenched his jaw in thought. Entering a Transit Sector was risky, very risky. But they also really needed the supplies.

"I'll go. Just show me the entrance and I'll get what we need."

"No Sam. We both go. That way we can split up and get things faster."

"I don't want you in there alone."

"It would be far more risky for us to be spotted together. You don't have the blue contact lenses anymore and we would draw less attention as individuals as we would moving around together."

He didn't like it. He didn't like it at all. But her reasoning was sound. "It could be dangerous."

"This whole journey has been dangerous, but we've come this far. And we need supplies Sam. There's no avoiding that fact."

There wasn't. But the idea of entering the Transit Sector made him nervous.

"We don't need to do it today Sam. We'll come up with a plan later, but for now, I think we should relax for the rest of the day, set up camp and find something sweet to eat in that forest over there. What do you say?"

He was still lost in his thoughts about the dangers they would have to face getting the supplies they needed but he forced a smile. "I say why not. The river's not far so we should go swimming!"

The swim was exactly what they needed to lighten the mood. As always Mercedes just had her usual wash, only getting her hair wet on the set occasions when she was actually going to wash it, while he played in the water, diving down and holding his breath for as long as he could before doing flips and stupid tricks to make her laugh.

They then collected berries and, despite Mercedes saying she would never gamble, he persuaded her to play a card game that involved berries as a reward. Each of them started with an equal number of berries and each time one of them won, they would be able to eat one of their own berries, but each time one of them lost, they would have to feed one of their berries to the other person.

Sam had just laughed heartily as she'd had to feed him her last remaining berry while he still had five left. She grinned back at him as he pretended to try and bite her finger in the process and then reached higher to touch the corner of his eye. "You know, when you laugh or grin really hard, you get these wrinkles here at the corner of you eye like an old man."

"I'm not old!"

"I know. But your life is showing on your eyes. I kinda like it tho. It goes with your beard!" She ran a finger down his sideburn and along his cheek, fascinated.

"I'm glad you like it, because when you get laughter lines of your own I'll be the first to laugh at you!"

"No you won't. We have a saying in my Sector 'black don't crack'. I'm going to be old before I start to wrinkle!"

He started to smile at the thought before realizing that he would be long gone before she developed her first line. Not wanting his expression to change in front of her he quickly replaced it with another smile. "That's the beauty of youth! Enjoy being a teenager!"

"But I'm not a teenager anymore now!"

"What? You mean you had your birthday? And you never said anything?"

She shrugged. "It was last week. And it's not as if I could have baked myself a cake and lit candles."

Sam felt bad for her. She'd passed a landmark without any acknowledgement whatsoever. "But you-"

"Besides, it wouldn't have made a difference to how you view me. I'm just a kid with a dream that you're babysitting."

Actually, that wasn't true at all. Now that she was no longer a teenager it added a level of legitimacy to the various feelings that unnerved him greatly. "It doesn't change the way I feel about you," he lied, "But I don't feel like I'm babysitting either. The truth is, you're taking as much care of me as I am of you! I think we're a good team!"

"Yeah. I guess we are a good team." But her voice lacked its usual enthusiasm and she sounded disappointed. She didn't seem to realize that it was a protection for her to view her that way. That much as he loved going to sleep with her at night, his dreams were now plagued with fantasies of things he really shouldn't be doing with her, and his mornings were an uncomfortable attempt to disguise the resulting arousal that a night spent pressed up against her softness invariably brought.

She didn't look happy about what he said but he didn't know how to change it to make it better. Her mood was low for the rest of the day and nothing he did seemed to improve it. Just before dinner he excused himself and scrabbled around for every wild flower he could find. Finally gathering a bunch big enough he took one with a long stem and tied it around the other stems to make a proper bunch.

He got back to see her putting water on to boil. She clearly knew he had come back but didn't bother turning around, allowing him to sneak up behind her. "Happy birthday for last week Mercedes!" He put on his brightest smile and held out the flowers. "I'm sorry I don't really have anything I can give you." She looked at him uncertainly before breaking into huge smile and he watched as her eyes welled up. "Nobody ever gave me flowers before." She spoke quietly as she lifted them to her nose and inhaled them. "It's the best birthday present ever!" She spontaneously reached forward and gave him a peck on the front of his cheek, the only part which wasn't covered with his beard. Her action made his chest skip.

This was getting dangerous. Very dangerous. Yet it there was one thing he did with danger... He looked it right in the face. Taking one of the flowers from the bunch, he broke the stem to make it shorter before sliding in into her hair, just above her right ear.

She jerked back, staring as if he'd touched her inappropriately and he could have sworn that beneath her dark skin she was blushing. He frowned. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No! Well... Yeah. It's just that you shouldn't really touch my hair. But it's okay. You didn't know."

"Alright... So I won't touch your hair." He wanted to ask why but her facial expression begged him not to so he didn't. It was a shame because he found the unique texture of it fascinating and had been dying to explore it properly since he'd met her. As always, Mercedes had cultural elements to her that confused him but he was willing to learn. "But it does look pretty, you know, with the flower."

She smiled and touched the flower with her fingertips. There was no mirror so she had to take his word for it. Then again she still looked beautiful without the flower, yet he knew it would cross an unspoken line to tell her that.

But the fact that she was no longer nineteen anymore, the fact that she was no more a teenager but a twenty year old woman, that was really making a difference.

In fact it was making one hell of a difference!


	5. The Outside: Part 2

**_Another really long chapter I'm afraid. Hope you like it!_**

* * *

They waited two days before making their entry into the Transit Sector. They had thought it would be difficult to come up with a plan of action but it had been surprisingly easy. Both knew they needed things and neither wanted to be in there long. The solution had been to set a deadline. One hour to get what they needed and meet back. All they had to do was draw up a list of what was needed and decide who was going to get what. The fact that Mercedes had experience of a Transit Sector alleviated his anxiety, but only fractionally. Because she had the experience of camping and the kind of stores that stocked supplies, she had all the items connected to their backpacks. Once he'd thought about it Sam was happy with this. After all, she had sourced and bought their original items and every single one of them had been useful. Sam was in charge of getting other essential items such as new shoes.

It was nerve wracking to say the least, and setting up camp in hidden spot not too close to the area in case they needed to make a break for it, they decided to make a dry run to acquaint themselves with where they were going. Only Mercedes could actually see the entrance and there was no telling what was on the other side of it.

Even when they were right there, Sam was frustrated that he saw nothing. It was only when she pushed her hand into what appeared to be a small bush that he saw it open into a doorway. Sticking her head through, she paused.

"What can you see?"

She pulled her head back. "It's an alley. But there seems to be a busy street at the end of it. Take a look for yourself."

Sam was dying to. Putting his head through, he saw what she had seen. It was an alley not dissimilar to the one he was almost shot in. The sense of dejavu it gave him was almost overwhelming. One glance was all he dared to take before settling back down on the ground with her outside. She stared up at him with hope in her eyes and he nodded.

She smiled. "So it is like the others then!" She had only seen one Transit Sector. He had seen several and therefore he knew that they were all built to roughly the same specifications. If you'd seen one you'd seen them all. Everything should roughly be in the same places as the Transit Sector where they had met. That meant she already knew where the stores would be for the supplies they needed, and he had a good idea of where he wanted to go too.

"Do you think you can get everything in fortyfive minutes?" The less time they spent in there the better and the memories that seeing the alley brought back were making him even more wary.

"Yep. Can you?"

He didn't even bother answering. He knew he should have been smiling but he couldn't. Even fortyfive minutes of her not being by his side was making his stomach knot. He wouldn't be there to protect her if anything happened.

"It'll be okay Sam. You have a beard now and I don't really look like myself either." She patted down her pants which had become significantly looser as the journey had progressed. When her back was turned, Sam still did exercises to try and maintain his physique, but the constant exercise and food was causing her softness to start to melt away, much to his disappointment.

He reluctantly had to concede that they didn't quite look like the version of themselves that had left Sector 17 all that time ago. It still didn't stop him from worrying though. "What happens if one of us doesn't make it back?"

"We will both make it back Sam. If we want it badly enough it will happen."

_Oh he definitely wanted it badly enough..._

The next twentyfour hours were both the fastest and the slowest he had ever experienced, and suddenly they were both standing by the bush, ready to enter the sector. After consulting each other and weighing up the pros and the cons, they had decided that midafternoon would be the best time to make their entry. After lunch things tended to be quieter. Those who were in the underworld tended to be around in the evenings but they planned to be long gone by nightfall and they definitely did not want to accidentally get caught up in any unexpected curfew.

The plan and their shopping lists had been run over so many times that it was completely committed to memory and they stood outside the entrance. Their watches were synchronized and it was twelve minutes past two. They were due to meet back in the alley dead on three. Sam fingered the money in his pocket that she had given him while he watched Mercedes as she stood with her eyes closed and her lips silently moving. He knew that she was praying and admired her for the fact that with everything they had been through her faith was still as strong as ever.

"I prayed for you too." He was staring so hard that he hadn't actually noticed her open her eyes and smile at him. Glancing at her watch she stepped forward and threw her arms around him. "It'll be okay. We can do this!"

He nodded and squeezed her back, praying in his own way that this wouldn't be the last time he ever got to hold her. "Good luck Mercedes!"

"It's not about luck Sam." They were now in the countdown of their final minute and she released a shaky breath as she stepped away from him and opened the entrance gate. He peeked through to make sure that the coast was clear before stepping back to let her past. She was to go through first and hide behind a trash can. He would come through a minute later and leave the alley first. If the coast was clear he would whistle as he turned onto the street and she would follow a minute later and turn into the opposite direction.

He walked through the alley, past the trash can where he knew she was hiding and resisted the temptation to grab her and run back, instead continuing to walk to the end of the alley before whistling a tune as he turned onto the street, noting just one car and a woman carrying heavy groceries on the other side of the street. He wanted to turn his head to see her leaving the alley but didn't dare. He had no idea what the surveillance was like in this Transit Sector and wanted to draw no more attention than walking out of a seemingly empty alley would cause to anybody who may have been bothering to pay attention. He had a job to do, and the sooner it got done, the sooner they would be back together.

* * *

_She was five minutes late! _Sam was crouched behind the trashcan with his purchases, desperately trying not to panic. He'd completed everything he needed to do plus a few things that were extra and still had time to spare. He'd arrived back in the alley nearly ten minutes early and used the time to see if he could see the entrance to the Outside for himself, but for the life of him it just wasn't visible. Then the panic had set in. What if something happened to Mercedes? He would never be able to get back Outside! On the other hand, he didn't think he could continue the journey without her!

It was tempting to go to the entrance of the alley and see if she was coming but he knew he had to stay down. The only thing he could do was keep checking his watch at thirty second intervals. As three o'clock came and went his panic reached fever pitch. His body broke out into a sweat and his chest started having waves of pain. Each thirty seconds that passed without her arrival was torture. He hadn't brought gun and he regretted it. He'd spent a lot of the night wondering if he should, before reaching the conclusion that if he was stopped and it was found on him, it would only make things harder to explain, not easier.

_Seven minutes late! _Something had to be wrong. There was no way she would keep him waiting. They had already agreed that if they felt they were going to be late for the deadline they would simply abort the task they were doing and come back. They could always try another day. Mercedes wouldn't leave him would she? Because without her, he was nothing!

_Eight and a half minutes! _He rubbed his beard with his hands to give himself something to do. Something to distract himself from the awful thoughts that were racing through his head. He was so distracted he nearly didn't hear the sound of footsteps running towards him. He stayed still and silent as they approached, 90% sure that they were her steps, but hesitant to fall into any kind of strange trap that may have been elaborately set up.

"Sam?" Her voice was a loud whisper but to him it was the greatest sound on the planet. He raised her head and saw her looking towards his hiding place with a panicked stare. The relief in her expression when she caught sight of him was immense. Without pausing she headed to a spot further along the wall. "Let's go."

He didn't need telling twice! He grabbed his bags and followed her as she seemingly disappeared through the wall. As soon as he was sure the gate was closed behind him everything was dropped and he pulled her into his arms, holding her as tightly as she held him. "Don't you _ever _scare me like that again!"

"I'm so sorry Sam!"

"Dammit Mercedes! I thought you... I thought you'd..."

"I came as fast as I could. First the guy in the camping shop was trying to chat me up so it took me ages to get away from him, then there were two Sector Patrols stood near the entrance of the alley."

Sam felt nervous again. "Sector Patrols?"

"Don't worry Sam. They were smoking. Just leaning against the wall taking a break. I didn't want them to watch me come into the alley so I had to kill some time by going into a shop to wait it out. I ended up buying a book so that I didn't raise suspicion for hanging around so long."

"Had they gone when you came down the alley?"

She nodded. "I waited until it was clear then held back for one more minute just in case anyone turned back. It's fine Sam. I'm just sorry that my doing that made you wait and worry."

He was sorry too. But more than that, he was just happy to have her back. "You're safe, we made it, we got what we needed and that's the important thing."

He was still basking in intense relief but reluctantly released her from his arms before he squeezed the life out of her. "Did you get everything Sam?"

He nodded and smiled for the first time as she looked at his bags with curiosity. "I got everything, and then some!"

"You bought extras? You know you'll have to be the one to carry it. What did you get?" She sniffed the air with a questioning expression then dived for his bag. "Sam, something smells really _really_ good! Tell me what did you get?"

He grinned. "It's a surprise. Come on, let's get back to the camp and go through our new stuff. Race you back!" Grabbing her heaviest bags he took off into a run and she followed him, laughing. Once they reached the tent she grabbed for the bags but he held her back.

"We're going to eat early today and we can look at our new things while we eat." After lighting the small stove he grabbed the brown paper bag that smelled so good it made his belly literally hurt in anticipation. "I know you used to work in a diner and this probably isn't as exciting for you as it is for me but-"

"Oh Sam!" He watched her face as she shrieked with delight at the contents. He had asked for the various items to be packed separately so that they could be reheated and assembled freshly. There were hamburgers with separate sliced onions, cheese slices, tomato relish sauce and burger buns.

Mercedes eyes literally bugged out of her head and her stomach made a very unladylike noise. Grinning, Sam put the burgers to heat. "We're going to have to wait for the burgers to get hot because I want the cheese to melt and go all-"

Mercedes was making a sound like she was having an orgasm and he momentarily lost his train of thought. "But don't worry. I've got us something to eat while we wait." Pulling out two smaller, slightly greasy bags, he handed one to her and watched her facial expression as she opened it and screamed. "Chicken wings! And fries!"

"I know they're cold but-" He couldn't finish his reply because her arms were flung around his neck and she was kissing his bearded cheeks, despite her constant claims of her not liking facial hair. "Sam I love- I love that you've done this! I would never have thought to. Thankyouythankyouthankyou!"

He laughed and reveled in the kisses wishing they were far less platonic. "If I were you I'd eat those quick because once I finish mine I'm starting on yours!"

"No way!" She made a big deal of putting her back to him as she tucked in.

Sam was in a state of bliss. Mercedes was safe and he had meat. Right now nothing could make him happier. Within moments the bags were empty and their appetites were whetted for the next course. There was only space to heat one burger at a time so they assembled it while putting the next one to heat. Sam halved it and they both ate in ecstatic silence.

"We're supposed to be showing each other what we bought!"

She shook her head. "Let's concentrate on this first." She moaned with pleasure as she took another bite of her juicy burger while he groaned internally and used every ounce of his willpower to not use his tongue to clean up the bit of relish which had fallen just before it reached her mouth. It would be so simple to lean forward, lick the delicious sauce from her full bottom lip before capturing it between his teeth and not letting go until she moaned again. He looked away and bit down hard on his own instead. Finally the temptation grew too much. "You have a bit of..." he pointed to his own lip. After a moment she worked out what he was getting at and swept her long tongue along her bottom lip until she found it. _Damn! That's even sexier!_

He was relieved when the food was finally all gone, just for the sake of his own sanity. She showed him her purchases, starting with more of the porridge food. He could happily have never seen another one of those cubes again but understood their necessity and in their situation there really was nothing better for when they had no access to any other food. But at least these cubes were different flavors. She'd also picked up sticks of dried meat, extra salt and seasonings. There was also a heat diffusing flat plate which would make it easier for him to cook larger items on the tiny stove and a brand new power pack. There was also more medicine which was useful because he had developed a cough and fever for a few days and depleted their stock, as well as a small sewing kit, extra thread, sunglasses, sunhats and burn cream. She'd bought new water bottles, a multi-tool because the knife on their one was already starting to get blunt, a replacement flashlight for the one which had taken an unfortunate tumble directly into the river as they'd made a shallow crossing, a roll of strong string and a plastic repair kit to mend the hole at the bottom of the tent which had been there for the last couple of weeks. There was also a smaller bag of personal supplies that he knew not to question her about although she did hand him a new block of body and hair wash and concentrated toothpaste.

She grinned. "What I forgot to get was a razor so you can get rid of that stupid hair on your face!"

"It's not stupid! It's sexy!"

"Yeah. You tell yourself that Sam!" Leaning forward she brushed his hair out of his eyes. "And I should have got something to cut your hair. It's got far too long."

He chuckled as he grabbed his bag. "Well I'm not going to let you come at me with anything from the multi-tool so you'll just have to live with the hermit look for now!"

Sam was excited about his purchases. First were the hiking shoes and socks to replace the ones they had worn out. Mercedes rolled her eyes at the fact he had chosen matching ones but he thought it was cute. He'd also bought matching teeshirts but at least they were just a plain blue. He'd had to show her the label which had described the color as 'sea blue' and got excited with her all over again.

Sam rolled through the other useful items that they needed before pulling up the final bag. "I got done a really quickly so I took a liberty and got a few bonus items. There was a small second hand store near the entrance of the alley and something made me want to take a look inside. The first thing that caught my eye was this!" He pulled out a small fishing net. "I know it's not big but I figured as I managed to catch a fish once with my shirt, this would increase my chances. It can just slot into the straps on the outside of my backpack so it doesn't even take any room."

Mercedes looked incredibly impressed with the purchase and he felt like bursting with pride. "Anyway, once I started thinking outside the box, I tried to think of what else we could need to improve the quality of our lives and I found some stuff for our entertainment."

He pulled out a small box. It was a compendium of travel sized board games. "This is because I don't know about you but I'm starting to get really sick of cards. There's six different games in here so we can play something every single night."

Mercedes smiled as she took the box from him. "This was a really good idea Sam. I hope you know that you're carrying this in your bag?"

"Of course!" He pulled out a second item. A small flat plastic thing which seemed to have a speaker embedded in it.

"What's that?"

"It's a digital music player. I used to have one of these. It can hold up to a thousand songs and when it's fully charged will play for about a hundred hours. I know we have nowhere to plug it in, but it's fully charged and whoever sold it to the shop didn't delete their music collection first so we might find some stuff we like on it before the power runs out."

Again she took the item from him and fingered it with fascination.

"I picked up something for me." He pulled out a small sketch book and tin of pencils. "We've passed so many beautiful places and I hate that I haven't been able to capture them."

"So you can draw as well as sing?"

"Absolutely! I'm a man of many hidden talents!" He felt himself blush and quickly continued. "I also got us these." He pulled out two bags of candy.

She laughed and nudged him. "I can't believe I give you money to get us needed supplies and you get us burgers and candy! You're such a man!"

"I know. But you love it!"

"Yeah." Her smiled wavered a little and she snatched the candy away from him. "We can open these tonight right? Seeing as we're gorging on treats and everything!"

He shook his head. "Not tonight."

"Why not?"

He pulled out another box. "I know this was brought with your money and everything, but I just wanted you to have something more than wild flowers for your birthday Mercedes."

She took it from his hand and gasped with delight. It was a box of chocolates. It may have seemed cheesy but she was already ripping the cellophane off it. She was half way through when she remembered her manners and gave him another squeeze in thanks. "Flowers and now chocolates!" She opened the box and sniffed the contents. A strange action for most people, but it made total sense too Sam. They had reached the stage where even the smell of something delicious was a pleasure. Before even looking at the card to see the contents she held the box out to him.

He shook his head. "You have to go first. They're for you!"

Clearly put out by his insistence she studied the card and selected a chocolate. She then bit half and held other half to his lips. "We share. I can't celebrate on my own."

It was impossible to refuse. The chocolate was amazing. Not the fake flavored stuff that they had been eating and drinking, but the real deal with a truffle center. "And I got you something to wash down the chocolate." He pulled out the bottle of wine and she gasped.

Sam frowned, suddenly realizing that he hadn't even bothered to ask beforehand. "You do drink, don't you?"

"I've never tried it."

"Well as a welcome to womanhood this is your perfect opportunity!"

"In my Sector we're not allowed alcohol until we're twenty-one."

"That's a shame, because in mine you're allowed it at eighteen. And seeing as we're Outside and not under the rules of any Sector we can make up our own. I vote for a compromise and a ruling of twenty being the age to be allowed to have alcohol which by default makes you legal."

She eyed the bottle warily. "The bible condemns drunkenness."

"We're not going to get drunk. We're going to have one cup each as a celebration and drink the rest tomorrow or the next day. Just think of all this food and stuff today as being your belated birthday party!"

Mercedes loved the idea and eagerly sipped at her wine. "Take it slowly!" He warned her. It was a sweet white wine with an alcohol percentage that wasn't too high and it went well with the chocolate.

Mercedes giggled as she continued to sip her portion. "I definitely feel all grown up drinking this!" But Sam was already regretting giving her alcohol and having some himself. He didn't want any inhibitions lowered! It had taken all of his willpower not to kiss her when she had sauce on her lips. With alcohol in his bloodstream there was no telling what he could do. And as it was her first experience with alcohol, there was no way that he was going to let her be irresponsible either! Regretfully he tightened the screw top on the bottle he put it away before there was any further temptation.

She was still sipping happily with shiny eyes as dusk fell and he remembered the one thing that had bothered him since the exited the Transit Sector. Their whole adventure seemed like so long ago now, but one thing was still stuck in his head. He knew it was irrational but he just couldn't let it go. "So you got chatted up while you were getting supplies?"

She nodded wildly. "And he was really cute too! He said that I had a beautiful smile." He watched as she smiled at the memory and his eyes narrowed, waves of thankfulness passing over him when he told himself that she would never be seeing the guy again. She had a wistful expression as she continued to speak. "Nobody ever really chatted me up in my Sector. For a start, flirting is frowned upon, plus there's girls far prettier than I am."

He shook his head. "You're exceptionally pretty Mercedes!"

She knocked back the last of her wine. "I _know_ that! It's just that not everyone appreciates my brand of beauty."

"Well that's their loss. The right people will always appreciate you for the amazing person that you are."

She nodded. "I know that too."

"Good, because I mean it! As well as beauty, you have drive, passion and inner strength that makes you far more special than any girl I've ever met!"

Mercedes looked at him with a frown for a moment before breaking into a smile and nudging him. "Damn right I am!"

It surprised him. Girls from his Sector were always so bashful. Half the time they were just putting it on, but it was something that was expected of them. Sam liked the fact that she had her own self confidence. Especially as it wasn't misplaced. She _was_ the brains and mastermind behind this while journey after all!

"So I was thinking, as I'm the birthday girl, do I get to choose what we do this evening?"

"Yep. Tonight is definitely _lady's choice._"

"Well in that case, I want to listen to some of the music on the player that you bought."

"Sure. Let's put away this stuff seeing as it's starting to get dark, then we can listen from inside the tent 'til we fall asleep."

The music player was an inspired purchase. Whoever had previously owned it was well traveled. There was music on it that they had both heard of as well as music that was totally foreign to their ears. There were songs she had to explain to him and others that he had to explain to her, songs that made them laugh and songs in languages they couldn't understand. The plan of rationing music to one hour blocks was disregarded for their first night with it and they ended up staying awake far later than usual until the yawns of Mercedes made him realize just how tired she must be, especially with the alcohol in her system.

As they snuggled up in the sleeping bag she, she rested her covered head against his chest. "Sam?"

"Yeah."

"I'm really glad you made it out of the Transit Sector alive with me."

"So am I. I don't know what I would have done without you."

"Same here." The dark and the silence made them recall how nervous they had been at the beginning of the day and they held onto each other that little bit tighter, just as they had when they first made it out of the Transit Sector.

"And Sam?"

"Yeah."

"Thanks for my birthday presents. This has been my best birthday ever. For the rest of my life I'm going to celebrate today in your honor."

"Really?"

"Really. I'll have burgers and chocolate and wine and I'll always remember what it felt like to eat those things after all the time spent travelling, and to listen to music for the first time in forever. And I'll never forget that feeling of getting out of the Transit Sector and the feeling of lying here right now, knowing that we're safe and we're still together. When those Sector Patrols made me late I was so scared this would be over forever without me having the chance to say goodbye."

Sam didn't know what to say to that. There were no words he _could_ say to that. "I'll celebrate it too." He could feel himself choking up and opted to lighten the mood. "But don't forget, before the burgers you have to have barbeque wings and fries and the night has to end with you jamming in a sleeping bag to some random music you've never heard before."

She giggled. "Sounds like a plan. We'll have to come up with a name for our day, but not now because I'm too tired. Goodnight Sam."

"Goodnight Mercedes."

Within moments her breathing was slow and even and he could enjoy the feel of her in his arms undisturbed.

* * *

The change in food and update in supplies uplifted them significantly and the next couple of days their spirits were high. The weather continued to warm up and the adventure was far more enjoyable. Things between the two of them were calmer too. The danger of their brief foray into the Transit Zone had given them a heightened appreciation of each other and they were still on a sugar high. Sam had forgotten to tell her he had also bought her a cake. It wasn't a real birthday cake, just a lemon muffin from the same diner he had bought the burgers from. Being forgotten in the bottom of the bag it was a little crushed but Mercedes still reacted as if he had bought her the moon.

They walked with renewed vigor, following the river they had found. Sam spent the first afternoon unsuccessfully trying to catch a fish in his new net. Frustration at his lack of success filled him but Mercedes was nothing but encouraging. That encouragement paid off the next day when he finally caught something and killed it with a blow to the head. He'd showed it to Mercedes who was excited beyond words for the first few minutes before she had laughed at his _now what do we do with it _expression on his face because she had handled the first one by herself while he had gone out to collect things to eat with it.

The afternoon had then turned into a lesson in cleaning and gutting a fish. But the reward was more than worth it as Mercedes laid it out on the new plate she had bought for the stove. A sprinkle of the seasoning she had bought and they dined like kings and finished the wine he had bought before playing a droughts tournament.

Life was simple, but good.

* * *

_Something was wrong._

Sam could feel it in his bones. He didn't know what, but his whole body had suddenly and inexplicably gone on high alert. It was early one morning, and looking around for Mercedes he realized that she wasn't in view. She'd gone to answer a call of nature and should have been back by now. She couldn't be having another of her female sessions because she'd only just ended the last one.

Maybe she was sick or had had an accident? Whatever it was, something wasn't right. "Mercedes?" He called out but there was no reply. "_Mercedes? Can you hear me?_"

Still nothing. She would always stay in earshot and she would always reply, even if it was just to let him know that everything was fine. His stomach instantly knotted. There were so many things that could have gone wrong. She could have fallen and injured herself, she could be lying unconscious, hidden by the undergrowth, having been bitten by something poisonous. She could have been attacked by a wild animal- no but surely if that had happened he would have heard her scream?

Instead there was nothing. Silence. He would have preferred a scream. That would have given him a direction in which to head. It meant that he simply had to follow the route he thought that she had taken. He hadn't exactly been watching too hard when she had gone. "Mercedes?" He knew the anxiety was evident in his voice but he didn't care. Maybe it would cause her to actually reply. It didn't. His gut was telling him to move and to move fast!

_When he found her, if she wasn't already dead he was going to kill her!_

"Mercedes!" This time his voice was angry and he didn't even care if she knew it. He traced what he thought her steps would been, the logical route that she would take to find somewhere secluded but safe.

And then in a blink of an eye he found her and everything happened at once.

By now he was running, desperate, the sense of dread in the pit of his stomach causing him to feel physically sick. "MERCE-" He loudly crashed through some undergrowth when he saw her. She was standing still as a statue directly in front of him, facing something. Following her line of sight he saw that something was a _bear_ which had been standing staring back at her. The noise of his shouting and entry broke their stalemate, Mercedes' distraction giving the animal the upper hand. The bear roared and leaped forwards towards her, rapidly closing the distance between them. Mercedes screamed and fell backwards, unable to scramble away. Sam felt adrenaline course through his veins. It was a split second decision and he didn't even think about it. Now that Mercedes had fallen to the ground it gave him a clear line of sight. He pulled gun the she didn't know he still had from the waistband of his pants and immediately fired. For a second the bear didn't even break its stride. Then just before it reached her it keeled over to the side and didn't move again.

"Mercedes!" She was sat where she had fallen, frozen in a stunned silence. Without even thinking he skidded to the ground next to her and scooped her into his arms. She was like a statue, frozen and stiff in his arms and he held her as tightly as he could. Pushing her face into his chest he looked over to where the bear had fallen, barely a meter away from her. Its eyes were wide open and there was a bleeding bullet hole directly between them. A perfect shot and he hadn't even been trying. But he couldn't feel proud of it. And it was disconcerting that she was still stiff as a board and unresponsive in his arms. Needing to take her away from the situation and the bear's body he lifted her and carried her back to the tent. She was silent and immobile the whole way. Sitting back down on the fallen log where they had eaten their breakfast he pulled her onto his lap and held her tight. "Mercedes. It's okay. You're safe. I'm here and I'm not letting you go." He planted a soft kiss on the top of her forehead and only then did she let go, her whole body shivering as if she were cold, the shock finally starting to sink in. He continued to hold her, rocking gently, the way he wished somebody had held a seven year old version of him after he had witnessed the cold blooded murder of his family. Back when he was just a poor, confused and heartbroken little boy.

Finally the tears came, together with huge wracking gut wrenching sobs, her breath coming in sharp gasps and gulps. He continued to soothe her. "It's okay Dee. Just let it out."

Sam didn't even realize he was crying himself. Suddenly what nearly happened started to sink in. He had nearly lost her. And he wouldn't know what he would have done if he had lost her. Not just because she had the compass and was leading the way, but because somehow somewhere along the way he had lost where he ended and she began. They were a unit. They were one. The thought of travelling without her was a thought he refused to entertain. The thought of life without her was a thought that he didn't dare think about. Nothing was more important to him than the girl in his arms. His Angel. He wanted to erase all her shock and fear but he couldn't. All that he could do was hold her and be here. And that was exactly what he was going to do.

They sat together wordlessly for what felt like hours, Sam's tears silent while hers were audible and uncontrolled. He held her so tightly he feared maybe he was constricting her breathing but whenever he tried to loosen his grip she began to shake even more. Eventually the shaking and sobbing subsided and he could tell that she had exhausted herself and fallen asleep. She was curled up against him in his lap like a child and he stayed exactly as he was, holding her close, rocking her gently and humming some of the tunes she had taught him, while resting his chin on the top of her head.

It was a shock, a real shock, for so many reasons. Firstly, they'd been lucky and not really come across much wildlife at all apart from the odd harmless grass snake. Other than the time they had sheltered in the cave they hadn't even given much thought too much about the possibilities of those dangers, other than the usual common sense precautions of staying within earshot of each other and never wandering far after dark without the flashlight. What they were doing was already real, but now it was so much more real. They needed to be more careful.

And as for his Angel, his beautiful Angel... She had been sent to protect him, and he would give his life to protect her. This strange fascinating girl... who wasn't really a girl. She was more than a girl. He remembered how hard it had hit him when he had found out that she was only nineteen. It felt wrong. She felt wrong. She was far more mature than that. And his feelings were far more mature than that. And now she wasn't nineteen, she was twenty. No longer a teenager and more than old enough to be married. So what exactly were his hang-ups over her?

He felt her start to shift in his lap as she eventually started to wake. "Are you okay?" It was a stupid question. He knew she wasn't, but he had no idea what exactly he should be asking at a time like this. Her response was a small nod. "Hold me some more?"

He'd hold her forever if she asked him. "And will you hum?"

_Hell yes I will! Anything for you!_

They sat. He held her. He hummed every tune he could think of and some he made up on the spot. All the while she nestled in his arms and he literally felt her taking energy and strength from him. Finally she pulled away. "I'm okay now." She stood slowly and stretched her legs. It wasn't true in the slightest. She wasn't nearly okay, but she was putting on a brave face and he let her do it for the sake of her own peace of mind. She touched his face and gave him a look that conveyed her thanks more deeply that she could have done with a thousand words. But now that she was no longer in his lap he felt cold, colder than those first couple of nights when they slept separately and couldn't sleep. It wasn't a literal external cold, it was a physiological feeling, a coldness which equated to emptiness. He needed to be touching her. He _needed_ _her_.

Even though she had been drawing from him, he was still somehow drawing from her too. He watched as she closed her eyes and gave herself a mental pep talk. "We can't stay here."

He knew that. But he also didn't think she should be walking.

She read his mind. "I'll be fine to walk. _Please_ Sam, I just want to go!"

He didn't need telling twice. Within minutes the tent was packed and they were ready. He stood, looking out into the direction they would be heading when he felt her small hand slip into his.

And she didn't let go.

From that day forward it was like an unspoken agreement that they would hold hands while they walked together. Neither of them questioned it, they just did it. If one stopped, the other would hold out their hand until they were joined again.

The day after the bear incident she was still shaky, but the more distance they put behind them the better she got. He knew there was something eating away at her but wanted her to mention it in her own time. He wasn't sure how she was going to react or what he was going to say anyway.

"Sam?" They were just cleaning up after dinner, this time ensuring that they left no trace of food outside at all in the fear of attracting more bears. They had been lax in the run up to the incident and were never going to be that foolhardy again.

_This was it. He just knew it was._

"About the gun."

He couldn't look at her and instead busied his hands with replacing the contents of his bag properly. "That gun saved your life Mercedes."

"I know. And I've already thanked you for it. I won't tell you to get rid of it because I see now how it is useful for our protection. I just hope that one day you will see that you don't need a weapon."

He said nothing and simply continued what he was doing although he could tell that she could see that he was still listening. "You're a good man, and I hope that when that day comes, you can use your weapons of destruction for tools of construction instead. But for now I'm just going to let you keep being you as long as you promise never to let me see that gun again."

He looked up at her. He knew what she was trying to say. She hated the gun but she saw its purpose in this context and wasn't going to judge him for it. It was more than he ever could have asked from someone like her. "I promise Mercedes."

"Thanks Sam." She stood and walked over to him. Bending forward she kissed his forehead and brushed his hair away from his eyes, just the way he always liked it, before disappearing into the tent for some quiet time.

He sighed and stared at the ground. How the hell was he going to handle this?_ He was falling in love with her._ He had reconciled himself to this fact and accepted it now, but he was still stuck. She was too good for him, far too good. And she would never be with someone so rotten to the core. It went against everything that she was.

_A good girl like her does not belong with a gun slinger!_

For the first time he began to truly regret ever agreeing to do this.

* * *

Something was off between them since that day. Sam couldn't place what it was. They were getting on perfectly well, better than ever actually. Days were spent walking and talking while they held hands. Evenings were spent playing games and listening to music. As the evenings were gradually getting longer, Sam would often take a bit of time to do some drawing of the various landscapes. Normally he would hate to have an audience as he worked, but Mercedes had a habit of quietly watching him, sometimes humming, singing or using the sewing kit to mend their worn clothes and strangely it didn't bother him. It was actually quite a companionable silence. She had finally, after weeks of him grumbling, turned down her incessant chatter. Either that or it was getting less irritating.

When she wasn't too close he would draw her. Different images of her face, smiling and laughing. He tried hard to capture her eyes, but the quality of their dark sticky mystery somehow eluded him.

Yet there was still this _something _between them which was a little tense. It wasn't a bad feeling. It was just _a feeling._ They were a well-oiled machine now, communication being non-verbal as well as verbal due to being so in tune with each other. They had fallen into a pattern with each other that he came to relish.

The morning he heard her scream when she disappeared through the trees to do her morning routine his heart had nearly stopped. "_Mercedes!_" Immediately dropping what he was doing he ran towards the sound of her voice, fearful of what he was going to come across. Images of another bear or wild animal filled his brain and he fought down the panic.

The trees suddenly cleared and he saw her stood, with her back towards him, gazing into the distance.

"What happened?"

"Sam!" He could tell by her voice that she was crying. "Come and see!"

He ran forward and she raised her hand. "Don't run!"

As he slowed down to a walk next to her he realized why. It was a sheer drop just a couple of meters in front of them. But instead of being the usual green landscape in front of them, this time it was blue. But it wasn't the sky because that was above it and the sky was a _different_ shade of blue.

"We did it Sam! That's _it!_ _That's the Sea!_" He voice didn't even attempt to contain her excitement.

Sam took in the sight in front of him. It was like nothing he had ever seen before. In his head he had imagined this Sea to be something smooth, like a lake, almost shiny in fact. But the reality was that it was rippled like a river and even from the distance he could tell that it was moving, just as she said it did.

A myriad of emotions coursed through his body. "Aren't you excited Sam?" She was looking at him again.

He painted a grin on his face. "Of course. This is brilliant!"

"_I know!_" She jumped up and down on the spot, squealing excitedly before pulling him into an enthusiastic squeeze.

He wanted to be happy and he wanted to be able to enjoy the softness of her body in the squeeze, but his overwhelming feeling was one of disappointment. Mercedes had wanted to find the Sea and now she had. What now? What next? If they stuck to her original plan, this would be the place where they part ways. But he didn't want that. Now he knew what it was he was feeling, he definitely didn't want that at all!

"I've dreamed of this moment for years!" She was chatting again and he had to pull himself from his thoughts and zone back into her. "I just can't believe we made it! I wish Quinn was here. She would be so proud of me!"

Sam said nothing. He just smiled as he watched her become overcome with excitement. How could he tell her that her achieving her dream was suddenly crushing those that he was daring to have for him and her? He was more than ready to permanently live the life of a nomad if it meant staying with her forever. As it was, he could only stand and watch as she excitedly did her happy dance.

Finally he found his voice. "How do you think we can get down there?"

"I'm not sure. The river will ultimately lead to the sea, but it could take a long windy path to get there. Or we could walk along this edge until we find a place to go down."

"Which way do you want to go?"

"I think I want to follow the edge. That way I can stare at the Sea the whole time!"

He would rather have gone the long windy route to extend their time together. But that would have been nothing but selfish. "Sounds like a plan."

"Can we start walking now?"

_Can we not? _"Sure. Let's get a move on!" Sam hated having to fake his excitement, but it had to be better than seeing the disappointment on Mercedes' face when she realized that he didn't share her enthusiasm. And she definitely wasn't ready for him to tell her _why_ he was no longer enthusiastic.

* * *

It took another two days to reach the beach. Despite his apprehension at finally reaching there, the pale golden sand and sight of the waves lapping the shore hypnotized him. They both took off their shoes and walked barefoot in the sand, watching nervously as the water hit the shore, sometimes with small waves, other times with slightly larger foamier ones. It was beautiful. He could stare at it for hours and he totally understood the attraction that Mercedes had for this mysterious phenomenon.

There were so many things about it that surprised him. He didn't expect it to have a smell, but it did, it smelled salty and fishy and like nothing he had ever encountered before. He also loved how it generated its own breeze that cooled the warmth of the sun and caused his now far too long hair to flap in his face.

"So I guess this is it." Mercedes looked out at the Sea with a pensive expression as they sat on their sleeping mats, looking out at the sun setting over it. Sam didn't want to take his eyes off. He loved sunsets but the sun setting over the sea was something he could not get enough of. He wanted to be able to capture it but knew pencil would not be able to do it justice. He needed paint. He needed watercolors.

They'd camped on the beach for three days, sleeping out under the stars rather than in the tent, listening to the sound of the waves and feeling the sea breeze on their skin.

"So I guess this is it then." Her voice was quiet and she kept her eyes trained on the water.

"What do you mean?" He knew what she meant, but she was going to actually have to say it.

"I know you can't see, but the Sector is just over there. I've been looking at it for the last three days. Part of me wishes I could just stay here on the Outside but I know that's not realistic. I can't stay out here alone, I need to build up my own life. And you need to go and do your own thing too. It's not fair to keep you any longer."

Sam said nothing. They'd been having fun at the beach, but it was dampened with the knowledge of their impending separation. There was something he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt. He wasn't ready to leave her. And he definitely wasn't sharing her excitement. "I was thinking about that, and… well, I don't think I should let you just walk into the Sector and leave you to fend for yourself. I made a promise to your dad to make sure you're okay, not to just take you to the Sea and dump you there." He played with his hands and felt like a nervous teenager for the first time in years. "So I think I should stay for a bit. Just to make sure you're okay. You need to be set up with a home and some work. It's not as if you'll walk in through the gate and everything will be fine. These things take time. And I won't be happy to leave until I know that you're safe, you're set up and you're happy." _There. That didn't sound too needy of me did it?_

She looked at him thoughtfully. "You'll come into the Sector with me?" He nodded. "But won't that be dangerous for you? What if you get spotted? Surely it's too risky?" As she spoke her voice became more and more alarmed.

"Yes it's risky, but it's a risk I'm prepared to take. Besides, I'm safer within an actual numbered Sector than I am in any of the Transit Sectors."

She was silent, staring out to sea with a pensive expression. He'd expected her to fight it, to tell him that she would be fine on her own. That she could do the whole independent thing. But she didn't and it surprised him. "So what do you suggest?" Her voice contained no emotion at all.

"We should do what we did with your dad. Make up a story that's believable based on our circumstances."

She nodded, and thought for a moment, silently. "How about… we pretend to be engaged."

"Engaged?"

"Yep. Just hear me out. You and I look like an odd couple. We say that we're engaged and we ran away to here because we heard we could get married here, because we would never be allowed to marry in our home Sectors…"

"…Which is true. For me at least."

"So then we can say that as well as wanting to get married, we needed to find a home and work so that we can establish our lives. Then just as everything falls into place, you can leave. I heard that there are boats that can take you over the sea where nobody will ever find you!"

"So you're asking me to jilt you? To leave you at the altar?"

"You don't literally have to leave me at the altar. But you can set everything up but not go through with it. Then I would be able to keep the things we'd already established and you can leave and never look back. Even if people found out you were here, they'd hear that things didn't work out for you and you left again without leaving a trail!"

"So you want me to jilt you!"

"It wouldn't be real Sam. But it would explain you being around to set up house then disappearing as soon as it's done."

Sam struggled with the idea. Even if it was fake, he hated the idea of being the heartbreaker. Even the idea of fake jilting Mercedes upset him irrationally.

But she was still looking up at him with hope in her eyes. "So what do you think? Is it a good plan?"

It was a lot to process. At least the hurt he would be causing Mercedes would be fake and not real. "Yeah, I guess..." It still didn't sit completely right though.

She glared up at him. "_You guess?_"

He opened his mouth to reply but the words were lost so he shrugged.

It was the wrong thing to do. Mercedes let out a huff and stormed off. He couldn't blame her. He had been dismissive of her incredibly creative idea. But they had come so far! There was no way that he could handle another cold shoulder from her. Not now that they were so close to potentially going their separate ways forever. Sam realized that he had to take a leaf out of her book and just be honest for once.

"Mercedes! Wait!" For a girl with short legs she certainly moved fast and he had to break into a run just to catch up with her. "Mercedes!" It was as if she couldn't hear him. "_Please!_" This time her steps faltered. He quickly closed the space between them with a few long strides and grabbed her arm, spinning her to face him. She was upset, but she didn't understand was that he was upset too. The plan was a good one. A damn near perfect one. It just needed a minor alteration. "What if it was real?"

"Huh?" Her face was the picture of confusion.

"I know that you said when we reach the Sea, you will stay there and I can go and do what I want. The thing is, if by the sea is where you want to be then that's where I want to be too!"

She frowned at him and looked confused. "Like Ruth and Naomi?"

He had no idea who Ruth and Naomi were and didn't want to be bringing any of her former friends into the conversation so he ignored the words and continued regardless. "I said I wanted to stay with you for a bit to help you get settled because of what I promised your father. But that wasn't the whole truth. I want to stay for me too. Right now, my favorite things to do are to go to sleep in your arms and wake up in your arms. I know that might sound odd to you and maybe even a little creepy but I really mean that. However stressed we may get in the day we always end the night together. The thought of having to say goodbye to you tomorrow or the next day makes my chest hurt. I don't want to break our habit. I want to be able to go to sleep with you every night and wake up with you every morning for the rest of my life."

He heard her gasp at his words but he knew he had her attention and he looked straight in her eyes, those dark sticky syrupy eyes that he knew would be the death of him one day if he wasn't careful. That day was probably going to be today because he was so mesmerized by her, the same way that he had been that fateful night in the diner, and yet again, all thoughts of rational behavior and speech left his head. Something about her left him with nothing but a naked honesty and a feeling that he had to risk putting his heart on the line or risk losing everything for good and live out the rest of his days with the regret of not speaking up when he had the chance.

Taking both of her hands in his he sucked in a deep breath. "I know that I have no right to ask you this, that I'm a villain of the worst kind. I've taken lives in cold blood and there is nothing in my power that can undo that. I don't deserve redemption, I don't deserve happiness, I don't deserve _love _and up until a couple of months ago I had accepted that as my fate. My life was flat and gray and meaningless. Then _you_ burst on the scene and when I look at you I see a kaleidoscope. You're so many things all mashed up together, crazy, witty, infuriating, intelligent, frustrating, loving, caring, annoying, kind, generous... the list goes on. You talk too much, you never leave me in peace, then when you don't talk to me I get mad because I miss you like crazy. You constantly quote the bible at me so much that sometimes I feel like I've read a chunk of it already! You are the wittiest most intelligent woman I have ever come across in my entire life. You know so much about so many things yet sometimes you ask the most inane questions, and the worst part is that you've not been able to work me out well enough to see just how much _I'm in love with you!_"

She gasped when he said that and went to say something but he didn't give her the chance. If he didn't say it all right now, it would never be said.

"So when I asked about it being real, I meant _us. _I meant _marriage. _You know who I am and you know _what_ I am but you've still taken me in, trusted me and cared for me." Keeping her hands in his he slipped down onto one knee. "Mercedes, right now I have nothing to offer you but the clothes on my back because I know you don't want the money in my pocket. Right now I don't even have a ring to put on your finger and I know that someone as amazing as you will get offers from men who are worth a thousand times more than me in quality, but I do promise that if you give me the chance, I will love you with everything that I am and with everything that I will be. I will love you as the man you want me to be and the man I _want_ to be. I nearly lost you twice on this journey and I can't bear to think that I would lose you for good on the third time."

He was crying. At some point during that speech his emotions had got the better of him but he didn't care. He was begging. She was everything to him and he loved her so much it hurt. She fell down to her knees in front of him, brushing his hair from his face and stroking his beard. "Oh, Sam! I've been in love with you for _ages!_ I feel the way you hold me at night, I feel you stare when you think I'm not looking, I _know _you draw pictures of my face when my back is turned. I just needed to hear you say it. I just needed to hear-"

Sam could do one better than that, pulling her body against him and kissing her, telling her everything she needed to hear with his lips. He was gentle and guided her as he slowly worked his way through the kiss. He still remembered her inexperienced attempt from their first meeting and patiently guided them through. Unlike the women from his sector she had full lips, and they were a match made in heaven in the way that they were able to move against his own. But this kiss was different in another way. He was twenty seven year old. He had kissed and done more with other women. But none of them had given him the swelling feeling in his chest that this kiss did. That this girl did. And the way that her hands were playing at the nape of his neck drove him crazy.

Much as he didn't want to break the kiss, he had to because he needed clarification on one little thing. "So, just so I'm clear on what's just happened here, you did just agree to marry me, didn't you?"

"Yes." She kissed him once. "Yes." She kissed him again. "And just in case you weren't sure, definitely yes!" The third kiss was her bravest one yet.

Sam smiled against her lips. Everything made perfect sense now. She wasn't being moody with him, she was trying to deal with her own feelings. And as for the weirdness between them, it was just unacknowledged attraction which had built into sexual tension. Tension that he was dying to relieve them both of! He pulled her down to the ground with him as she relaxed into the kiss but as he pushed her back she pulled away. "My hair!" He rolled them so that she was on top. Mercedes and her hair! She protected it at all cost. He laughed and reached for a lock which had fallen out from the tie that held it back. She pulled away but looked regretful at the action, quickly tucking it behind her ear with a sigh.

"Okay Mercedes, now that we've reached this point in our relationship, are you ever going to tell me what the deal is with your hair and why I'm not allowed to touch it?"

This time the blush on her cheeks was very evident and she took a deep breath. "In my Sector, a woman's hair is sacred. It's her glory and it's an intimate part of her. No man outside of a woman's immediate family is allowed to touch a woman's hair unless… unless he's her husband. Letting you touch my hair would be like letting you touch me naked!"

"But haven't we just agreed we're going to do the whole marriage thing for real."

She nodded, shyly. "Yeah, we have. But we're not actually married yet so…"

"So no touching your hair."

"Exactly. No touching my hair."

Then it started to dawn on him. "And I guess by extension that means nothing naked…"

She blushed furiously and simply nodded.

_Fuck!_

He banged his head against the sand with a sigh. "I'm not going to lie. I won't pretend that I'm happy about that little rule from your Sector…" She looked at him with a pleading expression in her eyes but this was hard for him. "But you're not in your Sector anymore Mercedes!"

"I know. But I carry it in my heart Sam. I may not have fitted in there, but I'm not a rule breaker. Once we enter the Sea Sector, we can marry. But until then I have to stay chaste."

Sam knew he was pouting. So near and yet so far…

She looked at him sympathetically. "If you want we can pack our things and go in the morning."

_He wouldn't be able to wish for the morning to come fast enough. _"But I can still hold you tonight?"

"You can still hold me tonight. I'd really like that."

"Okay. Let's go pack." He stood and offered his hand for her to stand and they both brushed themselves down before walking hand in hand to the tent.

"Mercedes, one question."

"Yes?"

"Who are Ruth and Naomi?"

"They're from the bible."

He chuckled. "I should have guessed."

"You said something which was almost word for word what Ruth said to Naomi. I would tell you more but I really want to start packing. Tomorrow is the first day of the rest of our lives Sam. I'll tell you more about them after we're married."

He let go of her hand so that he could walk with his arm around her shoulder instead. "_After we're married.._. I like that phrase. I like that phrase _a lot!_"

* * *

**_This chapter is technically the second part of chapter 4. There are still two chapters to go of this six parter but I will post them together for reasons which will be become apparent in my A/Ns for the next chapter._**


	6. The Sea

**_Happy Samcedes Week everyone!_**

**_A couple of people have asked about Sam's piercing so I wanted to clarify, especially as it does have some relevance in this chapter. His right hear is pierced and it's a 'guage' style stretched piercing which is traditional for men in his Sector. The ring he wears in it is a plain flesh tunnel style ring so the hole is very apparent. It's not a massive stretch, but it is about an inch so it's very clear that there is a hole which is why Mercedes brought up the body modification thing in a previous chapter. Sam was also supposed to have a tattoo in this fic but I forgot to mention it at the beginning the first time he removes his shirt so it's not in although in my head he totally has something on the back of his shoulderblade._**

* * *

They had been travelling for one hundred and three days.

This was their final morning waking up in the tent. As soon as he got the chance he would be throwing the damn thing, together with the useless camping mats into the trash. The sleeping bag he might keep for sentimental reasons. Mercedes was still asleep and he took the moment to just watch her breathing._ This was going to be permanent! She was going to be his wife!_

He was still stunned that she had said yes and that she loved him. Even with her loving him there was still a chance of her saying no and as they had walked back to their tent she had admitted that she really shouldn't be marrying him as a non-believer. It was only the fact that he had offered marriage that had caused her to say yes. An offer of anything less would have made her stop and think. This was something huge for her and there was no way he was going to screw this up by coming across as not being completely serious about this.

By the time she woke up, he had been alone with his thoughts for a while. She had been embarrassed and despite a few kisses and cuddles, had left the sleeping bag before anything serious could happen. Sam packed up in record time and before they knew it they had eaten their final breakfast and were walking along the beach.

Mercedes had seen multiple entrances and they had debated whether it would be better to enter directly into the Sector or via the Transit Sector. Even though it was slightly more risky, Sam opted for the Transit Sector first because it would make their story more believable of how they had travelled the Transit Highway rather than through the Outside which most people had no knowledge of.

"Why are we walking this way?" It suddenly occurred to Sam that the Transit Sector couldn't possibly begin on the beach, could it?

She squeezed his hand. "We're just taking a little detour. I wanted to conduct a quick experiment. Just to satisfy my curiosity."

"Curiosity about what?"

"I'll tell you when it happens."

They continued walking for a few more minutes before Sam suddenly stopped.

"Why did you stop walking Sam?"

"I- I don't know." Actually, he didn't. There was nothing but miles more of beach ahead of him. There really was no reason to stop.

"Come on, let's keep going." She pulled at his hand and he took one more step but then stopped again, an unexplained feeling of uneasiness filling him.

"What's wrong Sam?"

"I don't know. I just feel weird."

"What sort of weird?"

"Weird like I don't want to go any further."

She smiled triumphantly. "That's just what I thought!"

Sam remained confused. "Are you going to explain this to me anytime soon?"

"Uh huh. Basically, we are standing right at the edge of the sector. It actually extends onto the beach and into the sea. Theoretically people should just be able to walk along the beach and end up Outside and it would happen unintentionally. But somehow, not only do you not see the edges of Sectors and their entrances, you also seem to have no desire to go near them. People probably go to the beach and take long walks, but will always feel the need to turn around when they get to the edge. I don't know why, or how it happens, but I guess that's how the entrances stay hidden in plain sight." She stepped forward and pushed into what appeared to be nothing, but his view of the beach suddenly warped and he realized that what she was saying was true. There was something there but his subconscious was telling him to back away before he even got to it.

"Anyway…" Mercedes had grabbed his hand again and this time was pulling him inland. "Enough experimentation. Let's go and start the rest of our lives. And I'm also thinking that I want the next food that I eat to be in some sort of restaurant, even if it's the dingiest of fast food dives."

"Food!" Sam didn't need telling twice.

When they reached the entrance they stood and held each other one final time, this time adding a passionate kiss into the mix. Sam already knew that he was never going to tire of kissing her. This time they were a little less cautious entering the Transit Sector. Although there were places to eat, they opted to pass through quickly and stop where it was safer. Passing through into the main Sector was surprisingly easy and they almost walked into an older man in their excitement at getting through. Sam felt terrible, especially was the man had a wooden leg and crutches! But the older man with the graying hair and thick glasses simply smiled at them. "Just arrived?"

Sam's words were lost but Mercedes nodded and smiled back at him.

"Well then let me be the first to welcome you to Sea Sector 5!"

"Thanks!" Sam felt himself warming and found his smile.

"Well, I'm sorry I can't stay and chat, I'm already late for an appointment. But one word of advice, don't stay too long in this part of the Sector. It's too close to the Transit Sector and it's not always safe. The daytime is usually fine but it's not worth the risk."

Sam nodded. "We're just passing through. Once we've eaten we'll go to Sector Center and get ourselves sorted out."

The man nodded. "Well, if you're all about the food, there's a restaurant on the next street called Mario's. I used to come every week with my wife. The food is amazing but they're suffering because of the decline in the area. He could really do with your custom and you won't regret it."

"Thanks for the recommendation. We'll definitely try it out."

"Great. Tell them Artie sent you and they'll look after you."

"We will!"

The man quickly hobbled away and Mercedes smiled up at Sam. "If everyone's as friendly as he was we'll be just fine!"

"I hope so!"

Mario's was a fantastic restaurant and telling the owner that Artie had sent them earned them the best table and a complimentary basket of breadsticks. The food was divine and as this was their first sit down meal in a restaurant as well as their first 'date', Mercedes decided that money was no object. Sam wasn't happy about her paying but once the food arrived he decided that argument was best saved for another time. Nothing was going to be a distraction from the food. Fur starters they had prawns and crab. For main they both went for steak and didn't even bother talking as they enjoyed it. Taste of the food after their travels was bliss of the most intense kind. While they waited they sat, holding hands across the table, finally getting to be the young couple in love that they were.

For dessert they shared icecream and a slice of the most heavenly cheesecake in the world. Just as their sweets were being brought to the table they saw Artie arrive. He embraced the owner who immediately showed him to a table nearby where he also rested the small bag that he was carrying. He had barely sat and rested his crutches against the wall next to him before a waiter brought him a slice of cake and glass of dessert wine. Clearly it was his regular order. Catching their eyes he smiled warmly at them and raised his glass to them.

"Shall we ask him to join us?"

Mercedes was discreetly watching as he ate alone, a sad smile playing at his features.

Sam shook his head. "He seems lost in his thoughts."

"But I wanted to do something nice for him to being so welcoming."

"Why don't we get his check. It won't be much."

Mercedes' face lit up. She liked the idea. Sam called for the check then explained that they wanted to pay for Artie as they had come on his recommendation and enjoyed the meal so much. As they were leaving, Artie got up and joined them, thanking them profusely for their kindness.

"It was nothing. A small gesture of thanks. You're the first person we've met here and you were so welcoming it's made us far less nervous." They watched as Artie embraced Mario and they walked along the street together as they were initially heading in the same direction.

"So what brings you to this Sector?" Artie asked as they walked.

"We want to get married. We can't get married in our home Sectors so we decided to come to somewhere where we can marry and set up our lives."

"Well you've definitely come to the right place. I pretty much came here for the same reason. To be able to marry my wife I mean." He reached into his pocket and handed Sam a business card. "Take this. Its details of the place you need to go to get your marriage arranged and legalized. Tell them Artie sent you." They reached the corner of the street and he stopped. "This is where I have to leave you. I have one last errand to run." He pointed them in the opposite direction. "That road takes you to Sector Center. It's a long walk or you can take a cab. I'd take a cab with those bags you're carrying."

"Thanks for all your help."

"No problem."

They watched as he turned the corner and were still standing debating walking or taking a cab when they heard a shout in a voice that sounded a lot like Artie's. Sam didn't think, he just ran with Mercedes hot on his heels. It was an alley and Artie was slumped on the floor with a shadow of someone running away. "My bag!"

Sam immediately went in pursuit of the retreating hooded figure while Mercedes went to check that Artie was alright. The thief clearly didn't realize he was being followed because he had stopped as soon as he had turned the corner and was starting to look in the bag. The next thing he knew was Sam's fist meeting his jaw and he was wrestled to the ground. "Why the fuck did you steal a bag from an old man!"

"Please don't tell my mom!" The hooded figure revealed his face and he couldn't have been older than fifteen. He was just a kid! Why the hell was he stealing? Sam had been seconds away from beating him mercilessly for attacking an old man.

"You attacked an old man!"

"I didn't attack him. I snatched the bag and he lost his balance and fell. I would never attach someone on crutches!"

"Why did you take the bag?"

"I don't know!"

"How can you not know?"

"I was trying to impress a girl!"

"Huh!"

"I saw the bag. It's from an expensive jewelry shop. I figured if I could give her some jewelry she'd notice me!"

Sam internally screamed. "I can't believe this shit!"

"I didn't mean to hurt anyone. I'm not a bad kid! I swear I just saw it and took a chance. There's nothing but papers in the bag anyway."

Sam stood and pulled the kid upright by the back of his hoodie. Even though it was just a kid, Sam still wanted to kick the shit out of him. But Mercedes wouldn't like that. _What would Mercedes do? _"You're going to give the bag back and apologize!"

"Wait! I can't-"

Sam wasn't listening. He was already dragging the kid back around the corner when he caught sight of Mercedes and a now upright Artie talking to a pair of Sector Patrol officers. He nearly released the kid and broke into a run himself when he realized that in this situation he wasn't the criminal. He wasn't the villain. He was the hero. He had actually done something good for society. Mercedes would be proud of him. And that made him happy. Artie had said that there were plenty of Mixed marriages in this Sector. Hopefully he and Mercedes would draw less negative attention here.

All eyes turned to Sam and the Sector Patrol Officers stepped forward. "He's all yours boys. But there's something he needs to do first." Sam hauled him in front of Artie and held him until he gave what he felt to be a genuine apology.

Artie wasn't hurt, only shaken, and after seeing the age of his assailant and hearing his pathetic excuse he decided not to press charges or even make a statement, but the boy would still have to be taken to the station and officially cautioned. Thankfully the Patrol were happy to do less work and once they were satisfied all was well with Artie, they called him a cab and left.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Sam was still nervous about how shaken up Artie really was but he laughed it off.

"I'm fine son. I've survived the death sentence in Sector 31. Some kid making me lose my balance isn't going to do a thing to me!" Sam stared at him in wonder. He'd heard all about the cruel atrocities of Sector 31.

Naturally, Artie shared the cab with them and was profuse with his thanks. "I don't even know the names of the wonderful people that saved me!"

"I'm Sam and this is Mercedes."

"And you guys already know I'm Artie, Artie Abrams. So where are you going now?"

"We need to find a couple of rooms to stay in and look up how to get married here. There's probably lots of hoops to jump through."

Artie beamed at them. "And how soon are you planning to get married?"

Sam looked into Mercedes eyes and they clasped hands together with a smile. "As soon as possible."

"I was hoping you'd say that! Is this afternoon too soon?"

Sam's jaw dropped and Mercedes choked. "You see, I just so happen to be ordained and up until my retirement yesterday I performed marriage ceremonies. Plus I believe in love. I've been happily married for forty years and at six tonight I'm being collected to go and join her. We've moved to Sea Sector 4 to be near my son and daughter in law who are expecting their first child any day now. My wife is already there and I've just been tying up some loose ends and paperwork. Tina and I came here to get married too, forty years ago. She was from Sector 31 and clearly, I'm not."

Without meaning to Sam's eyes drifted towards his wooden leg and when he looked up he saw Artie watching him. "You've heard of Sector 31?" Sam did but didn't want to let on that he had also heard about the stories of torture and cruel killings there, but then he didn't need to.

He nodded. "I met a girl from there once. Jet black hair bone straight down to her waist and very unusual eyes."

"Exactly. It was love at first sight. But her parents had already arranged a marriage for her. To go against it brings shame on the family. To attempt to be with someone else after a marriage has been arranged is punishable by death."

Mercedes gasped and Artie nodded. "And not being from that Sector and falling in love with someone from there is also punishable by death. We tried to run away but somebody betrayed us at the last moment. We were caught and sentenced. Tina was sentenced to beheading. As a citizen she had a right to a speedy death. I wasn't quite so lucky. I was given the traditional Death Sentence for Treason. We were immediately separated and I resigned myself to my fate. I didn't know that someone had helped Tina to escape. But instead of running she came back to save me. And somehow she did. Eleven days into my death sentence."

"Eleven days?" Mercedes looked confused.

Sam took her hand. "I'll explain it to you later." He looked at Artie's wooden leg again and the two men shared a look of understanding. Few knew the Death Sentence for Treason. It was particularly slow and cruel where they killed you slowly by removing body parts one by one. Sam did the mental calculation. Eleven days… that meant, starting with the right leg, one toe per day for the first five days. Day six would have been the foot from the ankle and day seven would have been the rest of the leg below the knee. Days eight through eleven would have been toes on the other foot. No wonder the man had poor balance. He shot Artie a look of sympathy and the old man acknowledged it. If he hadn't been rescued it would have continued, second leg to the knee, then fingers, ears, nose, hands to the wrist, arms to the elbow and so forth. This was the point where people started dying. But the whole time they would be kept on drips to prevent infection which would speed up the process of death as would shock through exsanguination. Sam could not imagine a worse way to die.

But Artie was smiling. "But my Tina was a badass. A true ninja, even though she says in her language _I_ am the ninja because it means 'a person who can endure'."

The car slowed and stopped outside a large gray building. "We're here." Artie looked at them intently. "Sam and Mercedes, do you truly want to get married today?"

Without even looking at each other they linked hands and nodded. "YES!"

He grinned at them. "Well in that case, come with me."

They followed him through the entrance and into an elevator to the third floor.

"Mr Abrams!" A woman with tanned skin and long dark shiny hair immediately stood as soon as she saw him. "What are you doing here?"

"I just wanted to check how this place is running without me."

"With all due respect sir, you've only been gone a day. There's still some of your leaving cake in the fridge!"

"Good. I'd have some but we've just eaten. Santana, this is Sam and Mercedes. They're going to be married this afternoon."

She frowned. "By who?"

"By me!"

"But you're retired!"

"But still ordained."

"Are you sure-"

"Ms Lopez. I could walk in here thirty years from now a crippled bent over old man and _still_ have the authority to perform marriages here. Now stop wasting my time and tell me, are there any rooms free?"

She checked the appointment book in front of her. "Yes. There's one."

"Right, I'm giving you the rest of the afternoon off!"

"But you can't-"

Artie raised one of his crutches at her. "And who is here right now to tell me I can't?"

The woman who was Santana suddenly pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and grinned wickedly. "Where was this version of you hiding all these years?"

"I don't know, but I like it. And I think it's only fitting I go out with a bang."

Santana was already reaching for her bag. "Well thanks for the afternoon off…"

"Wait! I'm not sending you home to start scissoring your girlfriend early. This young couple have just arrived and are going to get married. I need you to take Mercedes home and do what you girls do to get ready for special occasions. And find her something pretty to wear."

"But sir, if they've just arrived, they won't have their paperwork done!"

"Their paperwork is fine. I'll personally fast track it. Now hurry up and get gone! I'm leaving this sector at six so this wedding has to happen at five!"

Sam's heart skipped a beat and he saw Mercedes check her watch. 'Two and a half hours!' She mouthed the words and all he could do was grin stupidly at her. "But we don't even have anywhere to stay yet!"

"Don't worry. It's all in hand. Just go with the lovely Ms Lopez and she'll sort you out, I promise."

"But my bag-"

"Just take the personal items you need. We'll take the big bag."

Santana was already pulling her out the door and she tried to reach up and kiss Sam but Artie pulled him back. "None of that now! You'll have plenty of time after the wedding." With barely scraped fingertips the girls were gone and he was suddenly left to the mercy of a man who he had only just met.

Two and a half hours later, Sam wasn't ashamed to admit that he had cried. He simply didn't understand human kindness because it was something that had never been shown to him before, but seeing the kindness, generosity and selflessness of another person, a stranger who owed him nothing made him assess his priorities and see what had true value.

Artie Abrams belonged in the category of Angel in the same way that Mercedes did. People who did things for others with no expectation of getting something back. The first thing they had done when the girls had left was complete the needed paperwork for their marriage license and certificate. Sam used the information he knew, and the information he didn't know he made up. Artie had opened a drawer in his already cleared desk, put official stamps in all the correct places and signed the parts that needed signing. They then went shopping. It felt good for Sam to finally use his cash. He bought a suit and had a professional close shave and haircut. The next stop was a jeweler for rings. He had just found a matching set that he liked when he realized that Mercedes wouldn't want his money used for her ring. She probably wouldn't make a scene, but she wouldn't be happy either and he wanted nothing that would make her anything less than ecstatic.

But how was he going to do this? He had nothing of personal value! Then he remembered the comment of the man at the barbershop about the hole in his ear. He still had his father's ring in his ear! Yes he had sworn never to remove it, but this was for someone he loved. His father would understand. "Are there any pawn shops nearby?"

Artie thought for a moment then led him down a small alley. The man in the shop watched as Sam took the flesh tunnel ring from his ear, leaving the gaping hole. Handing the still warm piece of metal to the man was hard but it had to be done. After examining it for what felt like an eternity he opened a small drawer and pulled out some simple wedding rings. "You can choose one of these."

Only just realizing that he didn't know her ring size he picked what he hoped to be correct then thanked the shop owner so profusely that he gave him a free ring box to go with it. Next stop was groceries. Artie grinned. "Despite what you may think, you are going to have to eat at some point over the next few days, if only to keep your energy levels up."

"But I don't even know where we're staying!"

"You're staying at my place."

"But-"

"It's empty at the moment. My wife and I have moved to the next Sector. You can stay there as long as you need."

"Artie I can't-"

"Yes you can, now take this cart and hurry, we now have less than an hour! I'm going to sit here and wait for you because my leg's tired."

Sam flew around the grocery store. Living alone helped him rapidly home in on essentials. He grabbed eggs, milk, sugar, flour, butter, bacon, tomatoes, salad, chicken, ground beef, rice, pasta, juice, coffee and a couple of jars of ready sauces, a loaf of bread, chocolate, chips and cookies before running back and grabbing some fruit. Artie was impressed at his speed but Sam knew his previous life had been all about getting in, grabbing what you need then getting out quickly.

Then it was another taxi to Artie's house. The ride was amazing. They drove right up to the beach then turned off and headed up a small hill with a cute house half way up. "This is it!" Artie was looking at his watch with a concerned expression. "We're really short on time. I'm going to give you the mini tour then you have fifteen minutes to shower and dress before we have to head off and get you guys married."

"Sure." Sam was still standing around, staring in amazement. "And we can stay here? Are you sure? It's big! How much do you want for rent?"

"Not that big. Only three bedrooms. And no rent. You're not earning yet."

"But-"

Artie tapped his watch. "Thirteen minutes!"

Sam turned to head to the shower when a thought struck him. "Are you only allowed to perform weddings at your office or can you do them anywhere?"

"Anywhere. Why do you ask?"

"It's just that Mercedes is really religious and even though I'm not, I'm sure she would have loved to be married in a religious building. Failing that, I think that it would be a really nice gesture and it would save time to get married outside by the sea. We came here because she wanted to see the sea and it would be so fitting to do something like that. She could come here, do the ceremony, then you can take her cab back to Sector Center while we stay here."

He could see Artie running the plan through his head and looking at his watch. "Okay. We can't do the beach because my wooden leg and crutches don't fare well in sand, but we can head to the top of the hill because the view is amazing. Get yourself in the shower and I'll call Santana!"

Sam was washed, dressed and out in record time and came out to meet a smiling Artie. "Apparently your girl was already dressed and waiting. Someone's definitely eager! They're already in a cab on the way up so we need to get moving!"

Sam followed Artie up the short walk to the top of the hill and the view at the top took his breath away. The sea, the beach, the grass and the trees, all were in view. He couldn't wait to paint it. But first he needed to see Mercedes. All the running around had been fun but now he was suffering from acute separation anxiety. They had been together all day every day for so long that being apart from her felt wrong. He understood why she had been ready so early. She was probably going through exactly the same thing!

"They're here!"

He heard the sound of a car approaching the house followed by female voices getting closer and closer. Then he saw them. Santana came into sight first, with her arm linked with a taller blond woman of a similar age. Then came Mercedes. She was wearing a pink knee length dress which emphasized her curves, pink shoes and a pink flower in her hair which, for the first time since he had met her, was completely down with the braids falling over her shoulders. She was also clutching a bouquet of matching flowers. "Sam!" She ran to him and he ran to her, gathering her in his arms, swinging her round and kissing her fiercely.

She had been wearing lipgloss but wasn't anymore. With their kiss didn't transfer to his lips was removed by his tongue. Somewhere in the background was Artie's voice and he felt someone pulling the back of his jacket. "We haven't got to that part yet son!"

Of course they hadn't. But he hadn't seen her for a couple of hours. They needed to say their hellos!

Artie looked at his watch and cleared his throat. "Sorry guys but the sooner we do this, the sooner we can leave. And I think that at this point we _all_ want the same thing!"

Reluctantly he pulled away from Mercedes turned to face Artie who was holding a bible in his hand. Mercedes smiled as she stroked his freshly shaved cheek before frowning at the bare hole in his ear. "As we're pressed for time, we're going to bypass the speech and just get to the important part." He turned to Mercedes and addressed her directly. "Mercedes, I've only known Sam for a couple of hours but it's been more than enough to get the measure of the kind of man he is. His heroic actions earlier today speak for themselves and so does his love for you. When I see him look at you I see pure unadulterated love. Even in making decisions in purchases I saw him putting you first. And when it came to the location of this ceremony he picked here rather than one of the rooms in the office. Why, I hear you ask? Because he thought of you. He knows that your preference would have been a religious building so he did the best he could. He picked the greatest religious building. The great outdoors. Nature. And he said you always wanted to see the sea. Well now you're getting married and seeing the sea at the same time. That's the kind of man Sam is. I don't doubt that he would move the heavens and earth for your love. Now Sam, do you have anything that you want to say to Mercedes?"

He turned and took her hands in his, staring her in the eyes. "Mercedes, when we first met, I never imagined we would end up like this, here, together and in love. It goes without saying that you're the best thing that's ever happened to me and I love you more than any words could possibly describe. I owe you my life and your unconditional love has been the greatest gift I've ever been given. I promise to cherish it and cherish you for as long as I live." He brought her hands to his lips and watched as tears of happiness streamed down her face, mirroring the ones on his own.

Artie smiled indulgently and now turned to him. "Now Sam, I may not have spent as much time with Mercedes as I have with you but I can tell you one thing. In all the weddings I've ever performed, I have never known the bride to not just be early, but to be hurrying those who were supposed to be getting her ready! This girl cannot wait to be married to you, just as she cannot hide the love that shines in her eyes whenever she looks at you. When you failed to think of yourself when you chased my assailant, she thought of you. She worried about you being hurt and coming to harm. She told me that she's an extension of you now. If something hurts you it hurts her. And that's what the bible says should happen when people marry. They become 'one flesh', impossible to see where one person ends and the other starts. That's what I see when I look at the two of you and it warms my ageing heart. Now Mercedes, do you have anything you want to say to Sam?"

This time she kissed his hands before reaching up and touching his face again. "I just want to say that I love you very much Sam. We may have come from a strange beginning but this is definitely a happy ending. I didn't have any plans to fall in love with you but you're impossible not to fall in love with. You're everything a man should be and you've proved in small ways as well as big ones that you feel the same way about me too. I know you're not perfect, but neither am I. I love you for who you are and who you will continue to be and I'm so happy to be marrying you today."

Artie smiled and Sam was sure that Santana was quietly making vomiting noises. "So Samuel Evans, do you take Mercedes Jones to be your lawfully wedded wife, to love and to cherish from this day forward, until death do you part?"

"I do."

Mercedes let out a small squee.

"And Mercedes Jones, do you take Samuel Evans to be your lawfully wedded wife, to love and to cherish from this day forward, until death do you part?"

"I do."

Sam bent his head down to kiss her but Artie cleared his throat loudly. "Rings?"

Pulling himself together Sam reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and pulled out the ring box. Taking out the smaller ring he took her hand. "I really hope this fits."

It did. Perfectly. "With this ring I thee wed."

Mercedes stared hard at it then back at him. "Where did you get this?"

"I sold something precious to get something else precious."

Her eyes drifted back to the gaping hole in his earlobe before gasping as it dawned on her what he had done. "Oh Sam!" She sobbed loudly that he had to hold her and whisper in her ear.

"I wanted to do it. I was happy to do it. I can always buy back the earring with my own money, but I wanted to get you something that came from my sacrifice. It's a way of proving how serious I am."

Finally recovering herself she took the other ring and slid it onto his finger. "With this ring I thee wed."

Artie smiled and took their hands in his. "Before these two witnesses," he indicated towards Santana and her blond friend, "and by the power vested in my by God and the authorities of Sea Sector 5, I pronounce you husband and wife. What God has put together, let no man put apart. You may _now_ kiss the bride!"

So he did.

And the others made a hasty exit after their repeated and profuse thanks.

Sam swept Mercedes off her feet and carried her down to the house. "This is Artie's house. He says that as he's already moved out, we can live here as long as we like until we get settled."

Mercedes literally screamed with delight. "Really? That's amazing! How are we ever going to thank him?"

"I don't know. He still seems to think he should be thanking us."

"I think it's a blessing Sam. I really do."

Sam carried her over the threshold before giving her a quick, literally running tour of the house. "Slow down Sam, I need to see this place properly!"

"Not yet! There's something I have to do…" He swept her back up into his arms bridal style and carried her over the threshold of the bedroom before placing her on the bed. "It's our wedding night baby, everything else can wait."

"But it's not even six o clock yet!"

"The time on the clock doesn't matter. Any time after the ceremony ends is technically the wedding night."

"Sam, stop being so…" He stopped her mouth with a kiss. So far she'd been doing well with her kissing lessons and now he was kicking it up a notch, adding hungry to the list of emotions he wanted to convey. Because he was hungry. But not for food!

They kissed for ages, exploring each other's lips and mouths, licking, nibbling and caressing. Sam left it at straight kissing for a while before slowly adding movement. He took his hands and ran them up and down her arms until she shuddered in response. "You like?"

She nodded in response and he continued with his movements. This time he pressed himself closer and got braver with his hands as his lips moved away from her jaw to her neck. First he touched her hair. She flinched initially, an automatic trained response, but soon turned her head to the direction of the hand. Then his hands got braver still, skimming her body, but still always over the clothing. He decided that he wasn't going to start undressing her. She would have to be the one to initiate it. It took a while but eventually he could tell that what he was giving her wasn't enough. His hand crept underneath the skirt of her dress and she let it. His hands grew bolder still with her ass but she still let him.

Then finally she made her move, undoing the buttons on his shirt. He helped her and together they rid him of the fabric. The first thing she did was look up his scar. It had healed but it still looked a little raised. She pushed him onto his back and grazed the scar with her lips. He wasn't expecting that but it as definitely a welcome surprise.

Soon though, even the fascination with his glorious abs eventually waned and she finally backed away from him and stood.

Sam sat perched on the edge of the bed watching as she slowly unbuttoned the front of the dress before slipping it off her shoulders and letting it fall in a pool around her feet. He was still gasping in appreciation as she reached back and unhooked her bra, releasing the fullest breasts he had ever seen and even as that garment landed on the ground she was already bending and peeling down her panties to reveal her full nakedness. It wasn't a slow sexy strip tease, he had plenty of time to teach her how to do _that. _This was her opening herself up to him.

When she was completely naked she stepped out of her clothes, raised her arms out to the side, causing her breasts to lift slightly and looked at him shyly before spinning in a small circle so that he could get a good look at her body. _Oh lord that ass… _She bit her lip nervously as she looked self-consciously down at herself, touching her breasts and then her hips. "I know it's not much, all the travelling made me get thin, but I'm all woman, I promise. I'll get it back after a few weeks and-"

_Thin? _He stopped her words by reaching and pulling her towards him to stand between his legs, quickly capturing her mouth with a kiss. He expected her to be a little self-conscious, women in his experience always were, but whereas in his Sector they had prized thinness as a sign of beauty, she felt it to be the opposite. And she was in no way thin in comparison to what he knew. She still had full breasts, belly, hips and thighs that actually met all the way down. She was glorious and most definitely sill soft! He ran his hands slowly down her sides. "You're still beautiful and soft Mercedes. And I love you. I love you so much. You are perfect to me as you are, as you were and as you will be." _This girl was making him fucking poetic!_

She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed closer, causing her breasts to squash against him again, this time hot skin against hot skin, and her nipples pebbled against his pectoral muscles. "I love you too. I'm yours Sam. I'm all yours."

"And I'm yours Mercedes."

It took all his strength not to be mister grabby hands. She was right here, naked and pressed against him, but this was her first time and he didn't want to scare her by grabbing at her hungrily the way that he wanted to. There was no rush, he had a lifetime to get this now so he could afford to take his time. After allowing himself one single swipe over her ass with his hands he slowly allowed his hands to roam up her sides until they reached the curve of her breast. He skimmed them lightly before moving his hands inwards, cupping their weight while using his thumbs to slip between them and flick the nipples. His touch caused her to gasp and tilt her head back, allowing him to trail his lips from her mouth to her jaw and down onto her neck while his hands began to gently massage her breast, taking note of the fact that her nipples had hardened even more. They stayed in that embrace for a moment, enjoying the new sensation of skin on skin until Sam could take it no longer and had to shift his position slightly. He had been hard right from the start but now it was getting painful.

She clearly sensed his movement and giggled, rubbing herself against the bulge in his pants. "This feels like morning."

Sam cringed. "You knew?"

"It's not like I could miss it digging in to me every morning! Anyway, I know these things happen naturally for men."

He shook his head and met her lips again. "Nope. You caused it every time. You and your hot little body snuggling and rubbing against me while you slept. You have no idea how much self-restraint I had to show!"

"You don't have to anymore!"

"I don't plan to!"

Sam reluctantly moved his hands from caressing her breasts, only for them to find their way back to her ass. Standing, he lifted her and placed her gently on the bed before climbing over her and settling between her legs. "You have perfect breasts Mercedes." He ran his mouth down her neck to her shoulder, along her clavicle and down to her nipple which he flicked with his tongue a couple of times before taking it into his mouth as she released a moan of pleasure. Her breast fascinated him. As she lay back it flattened and spread slightly like encased jelly unlike the ones of his Sector women which stood up independently like mounds against their ribcages. And unlike the pink or pale brown nipples and areolas he was used to, these were dark, far darker than her skin, and had a deep brown color as rich as her eyes. As he lowered his mouth to them he almost imagined that they would taste like the chocolate they resembled. "These are amazing Mercedes…"

There was no chocolate taste, but he was able to trace and memorize every contour with his mouth and his tongue while her back arched in pleasure, her hands finding the back of his head and his name repeatedly whispered from her lips. He found himself having to grind into to mattress just to get some relief. He wasn't going to be able to hold out much longer and he wasn't nearly finished with Mercedes. After introducing himself thoroughly to her breasts he pulled back, smiling at her subconscious soft cry of protest.

"Don't worry baby, it's my turn to strip for you." Already naked from the waist down it took seconds for him to unzip his pants but he did it slowly, amuzed by the fact that she couldn't meet his eyes, first from staring at his bare chest, then from having her eyes firmly fixed on the bulge in his pants. Eager to not waste time he slipped his pants and boxers off at the same time, revealing his cock hard and ready. It was long was thick with a full head already leaking pre-cum and stood proud, ready for action. He knew he was slightly larger than average, but knew that the tall men from her Sector were also apparently well-endowed so he was sure that she would be able to handle it.

She on the other hand, didn't look quite so sure. Making his way back to the bed he lay back down next to her and kissed her gently. "Give me your hand."

Unblinking she offered her hand and he took it in his. "Do you trust me?"

She nodded and he brought their joined hands down until she was touching him gently with her fingertips. Even her briefest touch caused it to twitch in anticipation and her hand jerked back. "It's okay."

"I thought I hurt you. Does it hurt?"

"Nope. It feels good right now and when you touch it, it feels even better."

With furrowed brows she touched it again gently and he felt as well as heard the resulting grown in the back of his throat. "It feels… it feels hard but soft at the same time."

_It was a bad idea. This touching was never going to allow him to last. _Panic started to set in but rather than being nervous, Mercedes was strangely fascinated. "How come the skin is different here at the tip?" She ran her finger along the tight smooth skin on his tip and he nearly burst all over her.

"I'll explain another day." Quickly turning he scanned the floor for his shirt and leaped up to grab it before she could say anything. "I'm sorry I-"

_He was so close. If he could get rid of this one he would be able to last long enough with the next to show Mercedes the good time that she deserved. _"Show me what you need me to do. I want to do this for you Sam. I want to make you happy."

How was he supposed to resist this beautiful angel that was kneeling on the bed, naked as the day she was born with eyes only for him? Without a word he stepped forward and she offered her hand again. Laying back down he placed it back on his length and guided it to curl around him and stroke from length to tip. They only had to do it three times before his breath caught in his throat and he started to see stars. The shirt caught everything that escaped him and when the waves subsided he wiped himself down with it and tossed it aside. He closed his eyes for a moment as he calmed back down and felt her kissing his face gently. "Did I do good?"

"You did perfectly."

After a few seconds resting and enjoying her kisses he opened his eyes and smiled. "Now it's my wife's turn." Rolling her onto her back he resumed his position between her legs but this time, he only spent a brief time on her breasts before starting at her sternum and kissing his way downwards. By the time he reached her bellybutton she was giggling. "What are you doing?"

"Kissing my wife."

"But my lips are up here!"

"Those aren't the lips I'm thinking of this time!" He heard her gasp and felt her stiffen involuntarily. "It's okay Mercedes. We're married. We're allowed."

"I know but…"

"So let me make you feel good. I love you and it's what I want to do for you, as my wife. A sort of a wedding gift. Think of it as the starter that comes before the main course." Before she could reply he grabbed her thighs and parted them, causing her unique scent to reach his nose.

She was beautiful. Unlike the shaved girls he was used to she was completely natural. He had his own pubic hair so there was no reason why she shouldn't have hers too. Besides, using his fingers to part her lips and see the deliciously pink insides, all it did was add to the delicious contrast of her inner and outer folds. Raising her knees and spreading her legs further he gave her no choice when he went straight for the little bundle of nerves that seemed to be taunting him, her mild creamy taste sending him into sensory overload.

Mercedes immediately bucked and cried out and he grabbed her thighs to calm her and keep her still and in position. "It's okay Mercy. Let yourself go and enjoy it!"

Her hands found his hair as he made his way down towards her hole, teasing around the edge before dipping his tongue inside and teasing her again. Her hips and thighs were strong as she bucked against him but luckily he was stronger, her thighs unable to completely block him from hearing the involuntary sounds of pleasure that were escaping her lips.

When she came it caught them both by surprise, Sam because he wasn't expecting it, clearly too busy working his mouth to notice the buildup while she, having never experienced anything like it before, quivered uncontrollably for a couple of seconds while Sam collected her essence straight into his waiting mouth. Rather than scream or curse she made a soft mewling noise that made him feel proud of being the one to make her totally lose control.

Licking every drop of her from his lips he moved back up her body to lock mouths with her again as she calmed down. "You okay babe?"

"Mmmmhmmm…" She still wasn't quite with it but he was already hard as a rock again, turned on by his attentions to her and the sounds that she was making in response. Pressing close to her again he ran his hands over her body, stealing more feels of her breasts and ass before slipping a hand between them and sliding it down until it reached and parted her nether lips. As his tongue explored her mouth, his fingers explored the areas his tongue had been, first flicking and rubbing the already engorged clit before making their way to the jackpot.

Sam thought it would be easy to slip a finger inside. It wasn't. That she would be tight was to be expected, but this was something else. "Dee, you need to relax and let go like you did just now." He nibbled at the sensitive spot behind her ear and felt her loosen up as she was overcome. Lubrication wasn't an issue, it was more her first time nerves and once he got his finger in he worried he wouldn't be able to get it back out again.

"Am I hurting you?"

"No. Feels… good…" She relaxed even more and he strummed her clit with his thumb before raising him up into a near kneeling position to allow him a better angle over her and working in another finger as he kissed her mouth again.

"Good?" She didn't reply but the arching of her body and the fact that she was starting to ride his hand was answer enough. Lowering his face he captured one of her breasts in his mouth again and she gripped his head. He could feel her tightening and constricting around his fingers and knew she was responding. Just as he tried to add a third finger to stretch her out, she stopped him.

"No Sam."

"Huh?" He stopped his movements and shot her a confused look but she was quick to reassure him.

"Don't stop. I just…" she sighed as he resumed his finger movements "I just need to feel…" A shudder of ecstasy ran through her body had he hit that spot inside her, the second hidden bundle of nerves and he had to slow his movements to let her pause for breath to finish what she wanted to say. "I know it might hurt, but I need to feel the moment you make me into a woman. I want to do this properly."

Sam understood. It was one of her quirks, and although he had been trying to save her the discomfort, for her it was all part of the traditional experience and he wouldn't deny her. Forgetting the third finger, he worked the two he was already using back against that magic spongy spot, causing her head to tilt and her eyes to roll back before quickly removing them and lining himself up, swiping his head against her gently to lubricate himself with some of her sticky juices before slowly pushing his way inside. As he did so, he kissed her lips again, swallowing the gasp that came as he powered through the small wall of resistance he met when he was part way in until he was totally sheathed and squeezed to within an inch of ecstasy himself without even having moved yet.

When he was fully inside her he paused, feeling her muscles spasming and fluttering around his length and trying not to groan. He broke the kiss and looked down at Mercedes. Her eyes were closed and she was frowning. He was big, he knew it and she was still adjusting. "You okay?"

She opened her big tear filled eyes and smiled up at him. "I'm a woman now!"

"You were already a woman. This was just a technicality!" He smiled back and she reached up to touch his face tenderly before bringing it down for a kiss.

"I love you Sam." Sliding her hands down his back she rested them on his ass, pushing him gently, indicating for him to move and he did.

"I love you too." He moved slowly as she widened her legs to accommodate him and adjusted herself to a more comfortable position. It was hard but he kept it slow. _There is nothing wrong with a slow grind and I can keep one going for ages…_

Sam made slow and gentle love to her, grinding and rocking with his hips for maximum friction without thrusting too hard or going too deep. She matched his movements and moaned with each forward press that he made, the tone getting higher and higher as she neared her climax. He used his experience to do everything in his power to make her feel good and it was working. Clamping his teeth down on her left nipple, while flicking the right with one hand and rubbing circles on her clit with the other made her scream out as her walls contracted around him, milking every last drop out of him. He didn't fare much better with his elongated battle cry as he came deep inside her.

Dinner was forgotten that night as they lay in each other's arms, exhausted, satiated and comfortable on a bed for the first time in months.

* * *

The honeymoon was amazing. They didn't leave the bedroom. The first morning Sam had woken first and poured a warm bath, carrying the still drowsy Mercedes into it before eventually joining her in it and causing water to be splashed over the floor as they lost control of their movements.

They made love day and night, pausing only for sleep and food. Even the beach was forgotten in their hunger for the touch of each other. They had never felt this way before and were thankful for the lack of disturbance. When she slept he would stare at her serene face. Every inch of their bodies were explored, caressed, teased and stimulated. Sam would lay back and allow Mercedes to examine or touch whatever she liked on him. Obviously there was one thing she loved above all else and her touch, under his guidance, was highly stimulating.

One thing Mercedes wasn't was shy. Once her virginity was lost there was no going back. She wouldn't talk dirty but Sam actively encouraged her to tell him what she wanted him to do at she rapidly became adept at it. Very quickly it became clear that she liked it fast and rough. She liked it when he held her hand and liked it even more when he pinned her hands down. She loved the feel of his weight on top of her either on front or from behind and was more than happy for him to take control, even taking handfuls of her hair as reins. On the other hand, there were times when she loved to reverse the roles, pinning him down and riding him without mercy.

For someone who was a 'good girl' she could be pretty 'bad' in the bedroom.

And Sam's obsession with her breasts continued. He couldn't get enough of them. He liked to sleep with his head on them, squeeze and weigh them in his hands, explore them like a baby with his mouth and slip his cock between them when she was too tired to let him fuck her, or as part of their foreplay.

Then, after three days, Mercedes found Artie's note that he had hidden in the kitchen. The house wasn't just on loan to them, it was theirs! The note explained that when Artie and Tina had arrived in the Sector, a kind man had taken them in and allowed the Artie time to recover from their wounds. The man was old and had no family and told them that when he died they could have the house. He had died two weeks later. They fully expected people to turn up and say that the house was theirs but nobody ever did. In fact, the old man had even told other people in the Sector that he had given the house to them. Because the house had been given to them for free, they felt bad to sell it and profit in any way when they had worked over the years and bought property elsewhere that was truly theirs. He had wanted he house to go to someone who would appreciate it, someone who was starting out just like he was at the time, and now he was happy to hand it over with the keys.

Mercedes had exclaimed and slapped her hand over her mouth. "It's a miracle!"

For the bitter unbeliever that he was, Sam found that he had to agree. And there was no forwarding address for Artie so they had to eventually reach him through his previous work contacts to thank him properly. Artie explained that he had wanted to tell them on the day that the house was theirs bit he was worried they might not accept it so he had to be a little more sneaky. It was something they would always be thankful for.

And he finally got to explore her hair. He sat and watched as she undid the braids that they were usually kept in and twisted them into locks. Now that they had done what they had done, she no longer had the braids of a child, but the permanent locks of a married woman.

Eventually though, they settled into a routine. They had the house but they still needed work to support themselves. Sam put his money into an envelope and kept it in a drawer. He didn't like living off Mercedes' savings but she wouldn't have it any other way. She even bought him his earring back.

Going into the Sector made Sam nervous and he constantly made excuses as to why he wouldn't go with Mercedes when she went down for supplies. She never pushed him to come with her and he was thankful for that. The first thing she did was buy fabric and a sewing machine. She would spend hours putting together sample outfits and taking them down to the Sector Center to see if she could sell them. It took a few weeks but eventually a boutique store signed her up as a designer and she would make items for them to sell. She also produced fliers and established herself as a bespoke dressmaker for tailor made outfits and special occasions. Word of mouth quickly got her a good reputation and a healthy business following. She put the weight back on that she lost during the journey and her self-confidence grew. With the increase in her weight came an increase in her breast size which drove Sam nearly insane with desire.

Sam found things less easy. He told Mercedes that he was suffering from agoraphobia and that's what she told others. They both knew it wasn't true. Sure he had a fear of going into the Sector and although there was a good chance that it was safe, there was also a degree of rationality to it. What she didn't know was that guilt over being free and facing no consequences for his actions in his previous life that he was still living with. He may not be officially punished, but he could punish himself for it. However, what it did do was make employment difficult. It was only after Mercedes had bought him a painting set and reassured him how good his art was that he contemplated actually selling it for a living. First he would draw his own pictures and sell them via mail order online using the SectorNet. Then he started to take commissions. People would email him photographs that they would request be converted into watercolor paintings, pencil sketches or even caricatures and he would do it, creating his own niche market business.

Life was good and they lived in their own little world. Mercedes would go into town twice a week to take her clothes, collect her money and get various groceries and things that they couldn't purchase online and get delivered. A few of her clients would come up to the house and Sam didn't mind. Usually he would make himself scares but on occasions he would let them in the front door or say a brief hello first, just to assure the world of his existence. They were older women who were no threat to his existence and he wanted the Sector to know that his beautiful Mercedes did in fact have a husband and was _definitely_ off limits.

It was a simple life, but it worked for them. They each had work that they enjoyed, a comfortable income, a lovely home and of course, each other.

* * *

**Three years later…**

Sam hated it when she cried. She tried to hide it from him but he could always tell. Whenever he asked about it she would make excuses – she was missing her dad, she was homesick, she was just tired. Then she blamed it on her hormones and he accepted that excuse for the longest time. Every time she got her period she became positively depressed and he even suggested maybe she needed to see a doctor to find out if there was something that could be done to help.

She hadn't spoken to him for three days after that and he never quite understood exactly what it was that he had said that was so wrong.

Then one day it all came flying out. One of her clients had come for a fitting and brought her baby with her. Mercedes had cooed and fussed over the child and even Sam had stayed around to play a little. The girl was around the age that Stacey had been when she died and Sam had felt a strange affinity to the chubby little thing. Mercedes had been fine the whole time that the visitors were there, but the second they left she fell apart.

"I'm a failure Sam." He was holding her as she wept against his shoulder, the first time that she hadn't hidden her tears from him. It was as if she was simply too tired and drained to escape him this time.

"No you're not! You're a successful business woman, you have everything you could possibly need and to top it all you have me! Not that you need me, but I'm like some stray puppy you found on the street once and decided to keep out of the kindness of your heart and I will always be grateful for that."

She smiled and smacked him gently on the arm. "Don't be so silly! You're not some stray puppy. You're the man I love! And I love you with every ounce of my being. I just wish I could give you everything but I can't."

He didn't understand. "You have! You gave me my life and you gave me you love. You've already given me more than I could ever have hoped for."

She pulled back from him a little and looked up at him. "Not everything though…"

He could tell that she was struggling with something and suddenly he started to understand what it might be. "Mercedes, you don't have to-"

"A baby Sam. I can't give you a baby!"

"Merce-"

"It's been three years Sam, _three!_"

Sam held her tightly, not knowing what to say as she sobbed. "I have so much love in me to give and so do you but-"

He stopped her with a kiss. "When the time is right, it will happen and we will be the best parents in the world. And it _will _happen. We love each other and there will be children born out of that love."

"So why hasn't it happened yet. It's not as if we don't, you know…"

Oh yes he did know. They made love, all the time, the only exception being when she was on her period, but even during those times she still made sure that he was completely satisfied in other ways. "We'll just keep trying. I want nothing more than to have children with you Mercedes. You will be the perfect mother and I'll do my best to keep up with you."

She buried her face in his chest. "But how long is it going to take?"

"It'll take as long as it takes Mercedes. You're still young. If you have faith that it will happen then it will."

Mercedes looked up at him with a watery smile. "Did you just talk to me about having faith? You of all people?"

He grinned back. "Yeah. I guess I just did. Seems like I've been spending far too much time around you! Unfortunately it seems to be a bad habit that I can't seem to give up."

"But I want this for you Sam. I want this for us."

"I want it too." He brushed his hand against her locks and kissed her tenderly. "The way I see it, the only way for us to get a baby is to make one. So… if you're up for it…" Sam started trailing kisses along her neck and throat that made her gasp, "I was thinking we could start trying right now…"

Mercedes grabbed his face and kissed him feverishly. It was all the answer he needed to carry her into the bedroom and spend the rest of the day making slow sweet love to her.

* * *

**Another three years later…**

Things were strained. There was no denying it. Even though they were still trying for a baby they were making love less and less and Mercedes was spending more and more time in the Sector Center. She told him that she was working but he knew that she was seeing her 'friends' too.

It frustrated him. Sam knew that Mercedes was made of a strong moral fiber that meant she wouldn't cheat on him, but she was beautiful and she was going into the Sector Center without his protection. For her to be seen alone all the time would surely give men the green light to see how far they can go. Maybe one day she would stop coming up to the house on the hill. Maybe she would find some other man who could give her what she wanted.

It had occurred to him that maybe the reason she wasn't getting pregnant wasn't her at all, but they had never actually spoken about it. What if it was him? What if _he_ was some way inadequate in the fertility department? It was a tough question. Would he be prepared to let her go and find somebody new to have children with? He should, but he knew that the reality was that it would happen over his dead body.

There was a name that she had mentioned. A name that had come up in conversation more than once. Joe. Joe Hart. She didn't realize it but she smiled whenever she mentioned his name. He did odd repair works at the boutique where her clothes were sold. Apparently he was also a man of faith. Sam didn't like him. He had no reason to as he'd never met the man and if he was a man of faith he should be above reproach, but… Mercedes was beautiful. Very beautiful. And great men had fallen at lesser hurdles.

And even if he wasn't after her to destroy her marriage, what if she looked at him and saw what she doesn't have? A man of faith rather than a heathen like himself. Someone who could give her the life that she wanted, who would be out with her doing the kind of things that couples do. Who could give her the children she wanted to make her happy. What was to stop her from deciding that Sam wasn't what she wanted? What was to stop her from realizing that she had sold herself short and that there were men who were so much better than him out there who could give her more, who could give her everything that she deserved. Men who didn't come with the kind of baggage that he had to carry around on a daily basis.

The thoughts tortured Sam. Every time Mercedes closed her eyes when she kissed him he wondered if she was picturing someone else. Every time she went to Sector Center and was more than five minutes later than she said she would be he was wondering where she was and who she was with. Every extra trip that she made that wasn't for the bare essentials he put down as her taking an opportunity to find somebody better than him.

It drove him mad. All the time that he wasn't going into Sector Center was time Mercedes could spend finding somebody better than him. And it wouldn't be hard to do. Yet the longer he stayed away, the harder it became to actually bring himself to actually do it. All that happened was the jealousy got greater. Mercedes mentioned Joe again. This time he had seen her at the market and they had talked. He told her that he had considered purchasing one of Sam's paintings and Sam was livid. How dare he use _him _as an excuse to talk to her! He had scoured each of the names on his order to make sure that none were by a person named Joe.

"This Joe guy knows that you're married right?" Sam had asked the question randomly one afternoon while Mercedes was packing her latest batch of clothing to take to Sector Center.

"Of course he does. He asks after you and your wellbeing." She looked up at him with an expression of confusion and he guiltily was unable to meet her eyes.

"Good." He had turned and made himself busy, sorting through his paint brushes, but he could still feel that she was staring intently at him.

"Sam, are you jealous?"

_Damn right I am! I can't go into the Sector and defend you from the man's lecherous ass!_

"Because Joe's not like that. He's respectful. I know what it's like to be hit on and he doesn't do it."

Now he was definitely piqued. "So guys hit on you?"

"Only a couple." It took everything Sam had to not fly into a jealous rage. _Nobody_ had the right to hit on his _wife. _If it wasn't for the fact that he had put himself at risk that first day in the Sector, he would follow her on every trip and act like her bodyguard. "But don't worry Sam," she touched his arm gently "I definitely put them in their places before they got any ideas."

"Good." He pulled her to him and pressed her against his body. "Because you're mine."

"I'm yours and you're mine Sam." She lifted up her face to him and he immediately kissed her, taking his time to suck on her bottom lip and only releasing it at the last possible moment. He listened at the contented moan she produced in response to his action. "You know I love you and there's no need to be jealous."

"Who says I'm jealous?" He brought his face down to nuzzle her neck.

"Your eyes Sam, your eyes."

He slid his hands down to her ass and pulled her to rub against his hardening erection. "You're not looking in my eyes right now."

"You know exactly what I mean."

"And you know exactly what you mean to me Mercedes. You're my everything. Other men may be better than me, but I got you first and I'm keeping you!" He moved his lips back to hers and kissed her possessively, one hand moving to her breast while the other smacked her ass, smiling against her lips at the moan of pleasure he received in response.

Now he had her, he was a man with a mission. Taking the hand from her breast he slid it down between them, underneath her skirt and into her panties. "Don't go to Sector Center this afternoon."

She gasped as his fingers teased her clit. "I have to. I have clients with orders due in today."

Sam could tell by her tone that she was going to hold to it. With a frustrated moan he slipped his hand even further down, pushing one finger up and inside her, causing her hips to rock. "So go in late then…"

Despite initial protests, that afternoon she went an hour late. And she was bearing fresh marks that there was no way she would be able to hide on her neck.

The final straw came when Mercedes came home clutching a book. She stood in the kitchen, stirring a pot of rice and flicking through the chapters when he asked her what she was reading.

Excitedly she handed it to him to see the title and the picture of the author on the back. "It's written by a writer from my Sector. Joe kindly lent it to me..." As soon as she said the name her smile faded. He knew why. He couldn't help the flash of emotion that had crossed over his.

"So he's giving you things now?"

"Sam! Don't overreact. He just decided to lend me a book, that's all!"

"That's how these things start!"

"How what things Sam?"

"Things to distract you. Things to make you see that he is a better option than me!"

"Don't be crazy Sam. Joe's not like that. He's respectful. He's a serious and deeply religious man. He grows his hair like a Nazarite and walks around in sandals and natural fibers."

"So he's not attractive then!"

There was no way she could be fast enough to hide the flicker of a smile that crossed her face at the thought of him. Clearly the man _was _attractive but she was too polite to say it. "He's not nearly as gorgeous as you Sam. You have nothing to worry about."

Her reply didn't make him feel any better. "It's not just about looks. That's subjective. You may love me for my body, but that's all I've got. He's a good man. He's educated, shares your love of books and your reliance on faith. He's precisely the kind of man a woman like you _should_ be with, not a heathen like me-"

"Sam! Stop-"

"But I need you to know that I _will_ fight for you Mercedes. I will fight for you until there is no breath left in my body."

"Sam you don't need-"

"And I won't stop until I know that you're mine and mine alone. I love you and I trust you. It's other men that I don't trust. Men who see what I have and want it. You're beautiful, you're sexy, you're intelligent, you're kind. You're a million amazing things all wrapped into one and any man would be crazy to pass up an opportunity to be with you if they thought they could be. But the thing I need you to remember is this…" As he spoke and stepped towards her and she stepped back away from him until he had her backed up against the kitchen table. "You chose me. You didn't have to agree to marry me but you did. And whatever any other man may offer you, and there are things they can offer you that may tempt you because I can't offer them like meals out in beautiful restaurants, proper dates, the option of travelling freely and in complete safety. They might even lure you with the thought of having a baby, because that's your heart's desire right now, but they can't make you feel the way that I do." He buried his face in her neck and lifted her by the ass to sit on the edge of the table while he stood between her legs. "If Joe touches you it won't make you moan like I do." He ran his hand up between her open legs and pushed her panties aside. "He doesn't know how to play your body like a finely tuned guitar, or a harp which requires different movements for different sounds…"

He continued with his tirade of angry seduction until he had her, ass hanging over the edge of the table, screaming his name and only his name as he pounded relentlessly into her before coming hard, deep inside her.

* * *

Three weeks later Mercedes was sick. She didn't usually get sick and Sam was immediately concerned but she dismissed it as something she had eaten. After being off her food and sick nearly every night for a week he begged her to see a doctor but she told him she was improving all on her own. And she did seem to be. The sickness calmed, or at least she got better at hiding it. But he also knew her regular cycle. It was a long one, roughly six weeks, but just when he expected her to start experiencing her cramps she didn't. One day late became two then three and she got really quiet. Day four he walked into the bedroom to see her standing in front of the mirror staring at herself hard and examining her breasts. They _had _changed, he could have told her that. They were definitely more sensitive and the nipples and areolas seemed darker too. He watched silently as she stood to the side and ran her hand over her belly, lost in thought.

"Mercedes?"

She jumped at the sound of his voice and he felt bad for alarming her. But she turned to him with a smile. "It's happened Sam! I'm finally with child!"

Running over he scooped her into his arms and carried her to the bed where they lay, holding each other, laughing and crying for what felt like hours.

Pregnancy suited Mercedes. After the initial weeks of morning sickness passed she took on a literal glow. Sam thought she never looked sexier than she did when she was sporting the bump. Her travels into the Sector became less and less until they eventually stopped and they did everything online and via courier.

As time passed, Sam was beyond excited but also felt a little stupid. He couldn't wait to see to see the baby. He still didn't quite have an idea of what their child was going to look like. He had never seen a mixed Sector baby before and his dreams were filled with the endless possibilities of combinations that their child could look like. Mercedes' scans posed a challenge. He wanted to be with her for them but he still 'supposedly' had agoraphobia. Thankfully her doctor was understanding and did home visits with a special machine that allowed him to see the baby and hear the fetal heartbeat.

All the pregnancy he assumed that he would have to make the trip to the hospital for the birth and had geared himself up for it so he was surprised when five weeks before her due date when they spoke about how they would travel down to the hospital once her labor started she simply shook her head.

"I'm not going to the hospital."

"_What!_"

"I said I'm not going. We're having this baby right here!"

_No. That couldn't be right. That WOULDN'T be right! _"You can't do that! You need doctors and machines and pain relief and-"

She simply smiled and shook her head. "I don't need any of that. I just need you with me. You'll help me do this."  
"_Me! You want me to deliver your baby!_"

She took his expression of complete panic in her stride and smiled at him. "My mother was a midwife Sam. I've been going to births with her since I was ten years old. I've seen plenty. I know what to do and will train you and help you to do what's needed."

"Mercedes, I can't-"

"Yes you can. Home births are the norm in my Sector and are preferred. Women have been giving birth long before hospitals came into existence. It's a natural process and nothing to be afraid of."

"I know but-"

"I'm not arguing with you Sam. This is going to happen here!"

One look at the expression on her face told her that it was, in fact, going to happen here, because to argue with her while she was pregnant was more dangerous than the facing the most ruthless of the underworld. Just because he loved her didn't mean he couldn't be scared of her at times.

And she did talk him through it. She answered all his questions and even pre-empted things that he hadn't thought to ask. She made sure that all the necessary supplies were ready and did trial runs just in case the baby came early which she assured him was unlikely for a first birth. They would often sit in the freshly decorated baby's room and talk about how their lives were going to change. It was an intentional decision by both of them not to know the sex of the baby until birth so the Sam had painted the room a neutral mint green.

From her estimated due date, Sam was her shadow to the point that she had to yell at her not to follow her to the bathroom. It took seven days before Mercedes sneezed in the kitchen while she was making herself breakfast and her water's broke. From then another nine hours of gradually rapidly increasing contractions and bone crushing grips on his hand and forearm before the baby started to crown.

After that it was just a couple of pushes before there was a sticky screaming being in his arms needing to be cleaned and have the chord cut.

A baby girl.

A beautiful baby girl with five fingers, five toes and a head of extremely fine soft hair.

Sam couldn't stop staring at her. She was so tiny and so perfect. Her skin was the color of milky coffee and when she opened her eyes they had flecks of green and brown and blue which reminded him of the coral in the sea. Mercedes agreed, and from that day her name was Coral. His favorite thing in the world was to sit and watch Mercedes breastfeeding, expressions of pure contentment on the faces of both mother and daughter. If anything was going to make him into a believer it was the precious bundle of love that he and Mercedes had created. What he adored most was the sound of her hiccups. How such a sound could come out of something so tiny he had no idea but it frequently did and it never failed to make them laugh. Even her tiny high pitched cry filled him with amazement. He didn't even mind being woken up by it when she woke in the night for her feed and he would sit and snuggle up to Mercedes as she patiently held and comforted the baby.

Those moments were precious and they didn't even mind how tired it made them because they didn't really have anywhere they needed to be early in the mornings. They would just lay in bed with the baby on the pillow between them, staring at her in wonder.

Mercedes had friends from Sector Center who wanted to see the baby and bring gifts and Sam did his best to make an effort with them. He would open the door and let them in, briefly playing the part of the proud father before disappearing, usually outside to paint, uncomfortable around strangers. He knew it was fine and Mercedes reassured him it was fine, but he had grown used to being around her and only her. Making conversation with strangers was overwhelming and he struggled with what to say. One time he had been left alone in the room with one of the friends when Mercedes went to the bathroom and after a few uncomfortable smiles at each other she had attempted to break the ice with the worst possible question. "So, how did you guys meet again?"

Sam literally felt the blood draining from his face as the words came out. What was he supposed to say? What had Mercedes been saying when she was asked that question? For all the time they spent with each other they had never actually put their heads together to come up with a story that didn't involve him having pulled a gun on her and putting her life in danger.

"We met in a diner didn't we honey." Mercedes was back and put her arms around him as she smiled at her friend who was still holding their baby. "This was back in the days before Sam got sick. He came in one night and literally swept me away and changed my life. We came here so we could get married and now it's been seven years already!"

"That's so sweet!"

"Yeah." Sam smiled but he still felt physically ill from the intrusion. He turned and kissed Mercedes on the cheek. "I have to go honey, and do that… thing…" He stood from place he had been nervously perched on the armrest of the couch. "If you need me I'll just be outside painting."

"Sure baby." Mercedes shot him a look of understanding that he was grateful for and he quickly made his escape.

But despite everything Sam never failed to count his blessings for Mercedes, how she tolerated his self-exile and how she covered for him without lying as only she could.

* * *

**Twenty years later**

The years had sped by. Sam had no idea how. One minute Coral was the tiniest most precious thing he had ever seen. The next she was pulling herself up onto her feet, literally trying to run before she could walk. Then she was up, dressed and full of smiles for the walk down the hill with her mother her first day of school.

As their only child, Coral was the center of their universe. Sam clearly remembered the day that he had come to realize the way that things were going to go. He was sat on the beach with Mercedes and a five year old Coral. They did it often and it was great bonding time with their daughter. This time, however, Coral was far more thoughtful. She was distracted while building her sandcastles and kept looking out into the water. The reason was the big ship which was leaving the harbor.

"What's that?"

"It's a big boat."

"Where's it going?"

"Across the sea."

"What's across the sea?"

"I don't know." It wasn't a lie. They didn't know that lay across the sea. Mercedes said that occasionally, boats came with people who had come from across the sea, a land where there were no Sectors. They would always leave again on the first boat back across the water. None of the visitors ever stayed. Sam found it hard to imagine a world without Sectors, but then he had also struggled with the concept of there being a world Outside of Sectors, and yet clearly there was.

Mercedes didn't find it a stretch to believe it at all. She constantly explained to him that the world as they knew it wasn't always in Sectors. The bible was written during a time when there were no sectors and people travelled the seas freely. Something had happened, nobody seemed to know what, but the Sectors were built by somebody and people were divided up into their respective groups for a reason. Even the fact that all the Transit Sectors were the same indicated the setup was specifically designed at some point.

"I want to go on a boat across the sea." They were simple words, spoken by a child but they cut Sam deeply. He leaned forward and kissed her cheek. "You need to grow up first!"

"But when I'm big can I go on the boat?"

Sam shot a worried look towards Mercedes who just smiled and shrugged before replying. "Sure you can baby. When you're all grown up you can do whatever you like with your life."

That night, as Sam climbed into bed and pulled Mercedes into his arms he sighed. "You know we're going to lose our little girl to the Sea. I can see it in her eyes already."

"I know." Mercedes snuggled up closer to him.

"I blame you. She inherited your wanderlust!"

"I would say I'm sorry but I'm not. I can understand her. By her age I already knew I was different. When you know, you know, and nothing can change that. If things were different I would be tempted to go with her, but I like it here. I'm happy, and I really mean it when I say that. I have you, I have my child and I have the Sea. They're the three things I've always wanted." She tilted her head upwards and kissed him deeply. "How did we manage to create a little girl so beautiful?"

"She got it all from you baby. But I feel like I already have to start preparing my heart right now for her to leave us."

"Me too. My only wish is that she can find someone like you to be with her."

"No man is ever going near Coral!"

"That's what my dad used to say about me!"

"And yet now I get to make you scream on the regular…"

She giggled softly. "Yeah, you do."

Sam palmed her breasts as he moved the strap of her nightdress with his teeth. "How about we go for plan b and give our girl a brother to look out for her…"

Mercedes slid her hand into the pants of his pajamas to find him hard and ready for her. "Hmmm… I think I like your way of thinking darling…"

The years had passed but there was no little brother or sister for Coral. It was hard for them, especially Mercedes, but they decided to focus on the miracle child that they had already been blessed with. She grew fast and she grew beautiful.

Coral Stacey Evans was a social butterfly who got on with everybody. She was highly talented, artistic like her father and intelligent like her mother. At a young age her reading ability far outstripped Sam's, much to his embarrassment. He would sit and listen to Mercedes help her with her homework and felt inadequate. Mercedes picked up on his difficulties and eventually he opened up to her about his lack of education. When they were home alone during the day she would spend short periods helping him with his reading and writing until he felt he had reached a much better standard. And they reached an unspoken agreement that whenever homework involved the written word, mommy would be there to help, but when it was art and creativeness, that was definitely daddy's domain, because try as she might, much to the amuzement of father and daughter, Mercedes had no art skills whatsoever. Even her stick men managed to look alien. The only drawings that seemed to work for her were her clothes designs and even then she like to test them out on actual fabric prototypes rather than simply draw. She was able to employ actual designers to handle that part of things as her business flourished.

Coral loved spending time with her parents but she also loved her friends in the Sector Center. Hard as it was, her parents knew that their solitary life in the house on top of the hill was not normal, and did their best to make sure that their child was integrated and in no way viewed as being different. Thankfully, the Sea Sectors were where people came when they wanted to escape the stifling lives of their own home Sectors and Coral was not the only Mixed Sector child. There were different combinations and her view of the world was a much broader one than either of her parents had had when they were her age. She would often go to sleepovers at the homes of friends and occasionally would even bring friends up to the house. Sam didn't mind visitors in small amounts but found too many people at one time overwhelming. Mercedes loved having children around, but once they left she would get sad that she had only one and Sam would comfort her as best he could. It just was not to be for them.

One thing Coral never lost was her desire to cross the sea. Sometimes she would sit with Sam at the top of the hill where he did most of his painting and sketch along with him. But in her pictures of the sea she would often put a boat into the scene, even though the sea in front of her was empty. He asked her about it once but she couldn't explain it. By the time she was a preteen, every other sentence was preceded with 'one day, when I've crossed the sea, I'll…' They accepted it but Sam didn't have to like it. She was, and always would be, the center of their universe.

The other thing that Sam didn't like was the fact that she was beautiful. Stunningly beautiful. Her unusual eyes permanently sparkled with laughter and her hair grew thick with curls which seemed both wild and tame at the same time. Even after all these years he still marveled at the fact that she had his eyes, nose and mouth yet still managed to look just like a paler version of Mercedes. She wasn't quite as soft as her mother in the figure but she still had curves and the older she got, the more she learned how to dress to make them work for her.

Sam wasn't stupid, he knew that she would have plenty of male attention, he just didn't like to think about it so he pretended that she didn't. But he had never met anyone like her. She was the definition of a free spirit. Even her personality was attractive. There was so much of her mother in her it was almost painful to watch. Coral also radiated with an inner joy. Even when she was small she took pleasure in the simple little things, always fearlessly catching insects and small animals to take care of as 'pets', before Mercedes found such creatures and screamed the house down until Sam removed them then had to soothe the tears of a confused disappointed little girl.

And now suddenly, she wasn't theirs anymore. As soon as the excited twenty-one year old started talking about how a few of her friends were looking at getting a huge apartment to share in Sector Center he had locked eyes with Mercedes and known that if she was feeling even a fraction of what he was then she would be devastated. The time had finally come.

"… and they asked if I wanted in too. And I said I would definitely be interested but wanted to run it by my folks first…" She looked at them with an expression of pure hope in her eyes. Mercedes glanced over him too but he hung his head and avoided her eyes.

They didn't have a leg to stand on. Mercedes had been younger when she had left home, and she had travelled across the country, not simply into the middle of town. He stepped towards Mercedes and took her hand. She held onto it like a vice but he disentangled it so that he could wrap his arm around her shoulder. They'd already talked about this day coming. It's not as if she didn't spend most weekends crashing at one friend or another so that she didn't have to come up the hill late from wherever she had been with them.

"You already know that we can't stop you from going. Obviously we would love you to stay here, and you will always have a place here with us, but if this is what you want to do then we will support you in your decision."

Mercedes sniffed as she pulled their daughter into her arms. "My baby's all grown up! I don't know what I'll do without you in the house!"

Coral chuckled and raised an eyebrow. "I'm sure you and dad with think of something."

"What does that mean?" Mercedes tilted her head in curiosity and Sam internally cringed, knowing exactly where this was going and not wanting it to reach its destination. He tried to but in. "Anyway, how about-"

But Mercedes was having none of it. "One second Sam. Coral was trying to say something."

The girl was now blushing furiously and so was Sam. Somehow this had come up in conversation once before, and it was a conversation which was never supposed to be revisited! "What I mean is that you and dad won't have to try and _be quiet_ for my sake. The walls in this house are thin. Let's just say I got my sex education _waaay_ before I went to school!"

Mercedes let out a gasp of mortification while Sam laughed. "She does have a point. And I'm sure we can think of ways to fill our time!"

And they did. The first few days after her departure felt strange but they quickly fell into their routine. It was just back to plain old Sam and Mercedes. And they were happy with that. All they needed was each other. They were each other's air. As Sam snuggled against her in bed he broke into a random chuckle.

"What's so funny?"

"Us."

"What about us?"

"I was thinking about that cringeworthy embarrassing speech I made when I proposed."

"Really? I thought it was really romantic. Apart from the parts where I wasn't sure whether you were complimenting me or insulting me!"

"It worked though, didn't it?"

"Sure did."

Sam pulled her tighter. "Well, I was just thinking about how it's come true. I've slept in your arms every night since then."

She thought about it. "Yeah. You're right. We have."

"And I just wanted to thank you."

"For what?"

"For loving me. And for saving my life with love."

"You love me to Sam. And you saved my life too. And now we're growing old together."

"Who are you calling old?"

She laughed and touched his face. "Remember those laughter lines? They're ravines now!"

"Ouch! That was harsh!" He pretended to be offended. "Just because you don't look a day older than you did the day I met you."

"Didn't I tell you all those years ago? Black don't crack! But anyway, I did find a gray hair today."

He gently stroked the scarf that covered her head. "Poor you! You can show it to me tomorrow."

Her smile grew cheeky and she stroked his face. "You can see it now if you want."

"But you've tied up your hair for the night."

"True. But it's not on my head Sam…"

It took him a couple of moments before he cottoned on to where she was going with this. "Aha. Well in that case, all that leaves me to do is remind you that without Coral there is no need to try and muffle yourself with a pillow when I make you scream..."

He moved down her body to indulge himself in his favorite familiar taste. Maybe having the house back to themselves wasn't going to be too bad after all…

* * *

**THE END**

* * *

**_Well over 17k of text! My longest chapter ever and I still feel like I rushed it. Crazy! Anyway, I congratulate you on reaching this point and thank you for putting up with this fic. I know it's not Familiar Faces, but it wanted to be written and even though I wanted it to be small it got big! (And believe me there's lots I ended up not putting in either!_**

**_This is where decision time comes. I've marked this chapter as the end because it is the end (of sorts). There is one more chapter, an epilogue, which ties up all the loose ends. It's set after a time jump and also contains character death which made me cry my eyes out to write, so if that's not your cup of tea, do not feel obligated to read it. Leave this story here and let it follow your head cannon._ _I won't be upset if some of you don't want to read the next part. I'll just thank you for taking this Journey with me, Sam and Mercedes. I enjoy challenging myself as a writer._**


	7. The Journey's End

**_Warning: This chapter contains character death. If it's not your thing then feel free to give it a miss. I won't be offended but it's something I just had to write even though I was bawling while I did it. (Why do I do this to myself?) _**

**_Also, I've posted two chapters in pretty rapid succession so make sure you haven't missed one. Previous chapter is The Sea._**

* * *

**Three years later.**

_CLICK!_

_The sound made Sam freeze and every hair on his body stand on end..._

It had been four long weeks since Mercedes had gone. It had happened far faster than he had ever imagined it would. First came the pain, she wouldn't admit to it but he could see it etched onto her face in unguarded moments.

Next her appetite stopped. She rarely ate because of the pain that it caused her and her softness rapidly diminished. Unlike the leanness that she had developed as they travelled to the sea, this was hard, angular and left excess sagging skin. Her face lost its glow and her eyes lost their light. Soon she was too tired to travel to Sector Center anymore. Before long there was none of her previous softness left. Only her belly remained distended, not unlike how it was when she was carrying Coral, but this time it was hard, hot and painful to the touch.

She knew what it was but refused to acknowledge or speak of it.

And she didn't smile like she used to.

It had been thirty years. Surely they had a cure by now?

Thirty years that felt like five minutes. Why had he not savored every second of it more?

He had made a decision. A selfish decision. Mercedes refused to get help but there had to be something he could do. That morning he had made her comfortable on the bed, made her her favorite drink and fixed her some food that he knew she would never eat.

"Where are you going?"

"To the top of the hill."

They both knew he was lying but she was too tired to acknowledge it, closing her eyes and sinking further into the pillows.

It was such a hard thing to do, breaking his self-imposed exile, the house arrest that he had voluntarily put himself under and that Mercedes had tolerated because she understood him so well. He had only seen Sector Center once and that was thirty years ago on their wedding day. Now it was such an alien space. There were so many buildings, so many people, so much smell, so much sound, not the sound of nature that he was used to, but noise, artificial noise.

How the hell had he been able to live and function in the city all those years ago? Now it was all too much. Everything was overwhelming. Plus he was nearing sixty. Sam clutched the small scrap of paper tightly in his fist. He felt someone knock into his back and jumped, alarmed.

"Are you okay? Sorry I got knocked by the crowd. Are you trying to find somewhere?" It was a young woman of around Coral's age. Her smile was warm and friendly. She was pretty with freckles and hair the color of terracotta. He had never seen anyone with hair that color before.

He opened his mouth to respond but no sound came out. It had been years since he had spoken to anyone other than his girls and his tongue clung to the roof of his mouth. Instead he handed her the crumpled piece of paper and she squinted at it.

"I know where this is. I'll walk you there. It takes about fifteen minutes."

Sam would rather she had given him direction and allowed him to walk alone with his own thoughts, but instead he mumbled a quick 'thankyou' and they began to walk together.

"Are you new here?"

Technically he wasn't but in terms of Sector Center "Yes, yes I am!"

She beamed at him. 'Well in that case I'd officially like to welcome you here. It's the friendliest and most diverse sector in existence! I've always lived here but my fiancée came here a couple of years ago after a very long journey from his home sector. Since he was a boy he always wanted to see the sea." She showed him the small ring on her finger. "I know it's not much but I'm proud of it."

"Congratulations!"

'Thanks!" She seemed thrilled that he was pleased for her and it was all the encouragement she needed to continue talking. Within minutes he had decided that she reminded him of the chatty version of Mercedes that he had met all those years ago, and how close he had come to killing her just for her to shut up. This terracotta haired freckled girl also clearly loved to talk. As they walked together, she told him about how much she loved her fiancée but how, even though she would marry him tomorrow if she could, but they were starting from nothing, andthey would have to wait for at least a year so that they could get a home first. Her fiancée worked long hours and she often took extra night shifts. It made it hard for them to spend time together but they knew that it would be worth it in the end.

Sam had a lot of respect for what they were doing and told her that he hoped they eventually get their perfect home for all their hard work.

"Thanks. He's worth it, and I know that our love is worth it too. He left everybody and everything behind to come here and I want to help him have the big loving family that he deserves." She became thoughtful for a second. "Anyway, this is where I have to leave you." They had stopped at a junction. "I'm going straight and you need to take this left here, and it should be the second- no _third_ building on your right. You can't miss it because the name is on the front."

He took the paper back from her. "Congratulations again and thank you for your kindness."

"You're welcome sir!' She looked at his face intently as if she knew him from somewhere and seemed as if she might say something more but he moved away before she had the chance.

"Dad?" He was stood outside the building, looking at the multitude of bells and cursing his failing eyesight when he heard her.

Turning, he was enveloped in Coral's embrace. "Dad! You finally came to Sector Center! And I was just on my way to visit you!" She held up her bag and showed him. Then she stiffened. "Something's wrong! You never leave the house, only mom. Is she with you? Where is she? What happened?"

His resolve broke at the sight of her and his eyes instantly began to well up. "She's sick."

"Mom never gets sick!"

"She's sick" he repeated.

She paused, suddenly taking in the seriousness of his tone and of the situation. "What is it?"

He couldn't bring himself to say it but she still understood. Mercedes was one of the one in three from her sector.

"I came," Sam said slowly, "to find a hospital or a medicine man."

Coral released her breath slowly. She was like him and kept her emotions contained but it was still enough to indicate her extreme distress. "I know someone. Better than the hospital." Taking him by the hand she quickly led him through the streets. Suddenly stopping at a plain door she knocked three times and entered.

The place smelled of lemons. Fresh lemons and freshly grated zest and rind. There were dozens of bottles on display, beautiful hand blown glass bottle. Behind the counter appeared an old man, far older than anyone Sam had ever seen in his lifetime. The man had tough wrinkled skin, tan like leather, and long hair on his head and beard that looked as white and soft like fresh cotton.

"Hello my child!" He clearly recognized Coral and greeted her warmly.

She made no attempt to formally introduce him to Sam, but she did point him out and say "This is my father. My mother is sick."

The man transferred his warm smile to Sam. "Then you know you have come to the right place. What is her ailment?"

"The Hardness."

The man's smile slowly faded from his face and it was in that instant, for the first time, Sam finally gave up all hope. Even Coral sensed the change in the atmosphere.

"How long has it been?"

"Several weeks."

The man shook his head. "I am sorry. I cannot lie to you and will not sell you something that I know will not work. The 'Hardness' is one of the ancient illnesses. There is no cure. It is genetic and present from birth. A ticking time bomb for anyone who carries the gene. The only cure is to breed it out as you have done. Mixing the blood destroys the gene. The only thing that can be bought is time. If told within the first few days of her pain I could have performed an operation to remove the Hardness from her belly before it affected her other internal organs. It's not a cure but it does buy an extra couple of years. Unfortunately the human body is clever and finds other ways of reaching that same ending." He reached under the counter and pulled out a small bottle which he handed to Sam. "Three drops in a full glass of water. She can sip it as often as she needs to for the pain."

Sam reached into his pocket to pay but the man shook his head. "Please take it with my condolences. Go straight back to her. Do not leave her alone again."

Sam nodded his thanks and the man acknowledged it.

"Dad?" Coral started to speak as they left the small shop but he didn't want to deal with it right now so he shook his head and she remained silent.

To save time they took at cab back to the house. It was only when they were nearly there that Sam remembered. He looked at Coral as if he had only just noticed she was there. "You said you were coming? To see us?"

She nodded. "I have some news. But it doesn't matter. And it can wait.

Sam knew he could question her more but he didn't have the energy. He was already suffering separation anxiety from being away from Mercedes, but the medicine man's words about not leaving her alone had frightened him more than he let on.

Coral wanted to run straight to her mom but managed to get her to hold back, telling her to put her things in her old room while he checked on Mercedes first. She was awake, sitting up and actually eating. She looked much better than she had in a long time. Immediately running to her he kissed her head. "You're eating! You're doing better and you look so much better!"

She smiled at him sadly and shook her head. "The pain has stopped."

The smile froze on his lips. The tone that she used to say the words wasn't a happy one. It was a heavy one. The pain had stopped. It meant that she now only had days at most. "I need to see Coral. Bring me the phone and I'll call her."

Sam smiled sadly, unable to get excited by his next words. "I can do better than that!"

Right on cue she came through the door and ran over to her. "Oh mom! Why didn't you tell me?"

"And do what? Make you sad for longer than was necessary? I didn't want you to have to see me in pain!" Mercedes held open her arms and their daughter fell into them. Sam had seen the gradual shrinking of Mercedes' frame. For Coral it was a sudden and terrible shock. Her mother now looked nothing like the way she had the last time she had been here. She was a shadow of her former self.

The young woman looked as if she wanted to yell and scream and shout but none were appropriate and she held it together well. "What do you want me to do for you mom?"

Mercedes' eyes filled. "Just be here. I need you here with me so I can look at you."

"Okay. I'm not going anywhere."

Later that evening, while Mercedes slept, Sam cooked a dinner that they were all too distressed to eat and Coral approached him. "I'm still mad at you for not telling me dad. All those times you said on the phone that everything was fine!"

"I'm sorry baby. But mom didn't want me to tell you. And to be honest, I didn't want you to be burdened with the knowledge either."

"But I _do_ know now! And I wish I'd known before. I wish I had known longer. I wish I had more time!" She started to shake with sobs and Sam held her close. It was different to holding Mercedes. Coral was taller and slimmer, but he still had a comfortable feeling when he touched her and he let her cry onto his shoulder and release her grief. "I would have made different decisions."

"What decisions."

"I bought a ticket."

She didn't need to say what for. He already knew. He's always known this was going to happen. And now he was going to lose his wife and daughter at the same time. "It leaves in just under five weeks but I won't go!"

"You've been saving up for the ticket. Of course you'll go. Don't waste your money!"

"Mom wouldn't want you to be on your own."

"Mom will want you to follow your dream."

"Okay, we'll ask her shall we?"

Coral asked and Mercedes told her to follow her dream. She took her daughter by the hand. "Being here in this place, right next to the sea was my dream. I pursued my dream and it brought me happiness. You need to do the same. We are built that way. Us Jones women are motivated and proud. Never change that about yourself."

The next day Mercedes was much weaker. They stayed and talked with her all the time she was awake, but while she was sleeping she found Sam on the stairs crying and did her best to comfort him. When that didn't work she went for distraction. "There's something else I haven't told you and I'm not sure if I should tell mom."

Sam could tell this was serious by her tone and facial expression. "Do you promise you won't overreact?"

It was the worst possible thing she could have said to _make_ him overreact but he hid it.

"Say you promise!"

"I promise."

"Okay. Well… I'm pregnant."

"You're wha-"

"You said you wouldn't overreact!"

_How the hell was he supposed to not! _"But you're-"

"Please keep your voice down dad!"

"Then you can't go!"

"You don't get it. It's more reason for me to go. If I was here I'd be trapped. If my baby is born on the other side I will have instant rootsl"

There were too many questions racing through Sam's brain. He didn't like to think about his daughter having sex, even though it was inevitable. "Who's the father? Is he going with you?"

"He doesn't know."

"About the trip or the baby."

"The baby. We broke up before I could tell him."

"What happened?"

"It was a whirlwind. I told him I loved him too soon and he ran."

"And do you?"

"Do I what?"

"Love him."

Coral stared down at the ground before nodding. "Yes." Her voice was quiet and Sam pulled her into his arms again. "He was just like you daddy. I think he was from your sector only he doesn't have the earring. I think that's why I fell for him. He made me feel like the most special woman on the planet. But he doesn't love me enough to follow me. And that's fine. I can't' make him do something he doesn't want to do. Me and the baby will do just fine." She stood still in his arms for a minute. "I've made a mess of my life haven't I!"

Sam shook his head. "Your mom would never say that a baby is a mess. You know exactly what she would say."

She smiled and did a perfect imitation of Mercedes' voice. "_Human life is sacred._" Then her laugh turned bitter. "It's true. She wouldn't. But is still don't know if I should tell her or not."

"That's your decision."

Coral didn't tell her. When Mercedes woke up she was weak. She kept repeating herself even though she was lucid. Coral must cross the Sea and Sam must not be too sad for her. And most importantly, she loved them both, so very much.

That night they all fell asleep together on the bed, Sam and Coral on either side of her.

Sam woke up first. Before he even opened his eyes he knew that she was gone. When he finally got the courage to look he saw that she had a smile on her face and somehow she had taken both his and Coral's hand in her own. She was still warm and it was only the fact that she was unusually still that belied there was anything wrong at all.

Sam's chest felt as if a huge hole had been ripped in it as he brought his lips to her cheek and kissed it softly. His movement woke Coral.

"Mom?" One look at Sam gave the answer she didn't want to hear and she immediately started sobbing.

"She's smiling Coral. She went happy, knowing she was with the two people she loved the most."

But it didn't make the pain any less.

In keeping with the tradition of Mercedes' Sector, they buried her before sundown in a shallow grave in her favorite spot at the top of the hill overlooking the sea. She had already told Sam that's where she wanted to be laid to rest and Coral pressed flower seeds into the fresh earth that they had piled on top. They each said a few words then sat and watched the sun set. He had his arm around her and she snuggled close. He took the smallest comfort in knowing that Mercedes going first meant she would never have to live with finding out the true horrors of his past.

"I'm not going."

"What did you say?"

After assuring him that it was safe to travel in her condition and the journey only took about three weeks give or take a couple of days, was she now changing her mind? "I said I'm not going. I can't leave you. I don't want to leave you."

Sam shook his head. "Don't say that. It's your dream to cross the Sea. It always has been."

"But I have my child to think about. Maybe I should stay here with you. I could move back in. Company for you in return for you helping me with the baby."

Sam shook his head. "You can't do that!"

"Why not?"

"Because you would never be happy. It would eat at you and you'll start to resent your life. You'll resent me, you'll resent your child and it will make you bitter. I can't let that happen. You are so much like your mother. She had this thing inside of her that burned and made her leave. If she had stayed in her Sector she would have been miserable. She loved her friends and family there but she needed to get out. It wasn't something she could fight, it was something she _had_ to do. She wanted nothing more than to come here and she found what she was looking for which made her happy. You're the same. She was meant for something more than where she was and you are exactly like her. You _need_ to cross the Sea. You've been obsessing about it since you could talk. You have Perception like your mother. I never said anything but I knew that you used to sneak out of the Sector."

Her eyes widened. "You did?"

"I tried to follow you once. But I couldn't see the damn entrance after you went through it!"

Coral laughed. "I'll never get that." She straightened up and cleared her throat. "But I always loved the stories you guys used to tell about your journey here. I want to have adventures like that."

He pulled her into an embrace and kissed the top of her head. "And you will. I've already accepted that. You were a gift to us and deep down we always appreciated that we only ever had you on loan. The day was always going to come when you continue the journey your mom started."

Her eyes welled. "But I don't want to leave you!"

His matched hers. "And I don't want to see you go. But I always knew it would happen and I've prepared myself for it."

"I can't leave you now that mom's gone."

"Yes you can. This is the perfect time for you to go. Besides, you made a promise to your mom that you would and you have to keep it."

"I would have said anything to make her happy at the end."

"And you know how she feels about going back on your word. If you don't do it for me, do it for your promise to her."

"But I won't see you again. You won't see the baby!"

"I did the same to Mercedes' father. He never got to see you, but he had faith that his daughter was safe and with someone that she loved and that was enough to keep him going. I know that you'll never be truly happy if you just stay here and I can't be truly happy either unless I know you're doing what your heart has told you to do."

"But dad-"

"Shhhh…" He held her tight, feeling all cried out for the day already. "You owe it to yourself to do this, and more importantly, you owe it to the memory of the amazing woman that was your mother."

"And what will you do?"

Sam shrugged. "I don't know. I don't think I can stay in this house forever, there's too many memories. I'll move too. Maybe just to the next Sea Sector. I'm too old for doing the kind of journey you're going to make. I think I'll retire and live as a man of leisure. I can get my own place and draw and paint only the things that inspire me. It's the thing that made me happiest after being with you and your mother."

Coral sighed as she stared out at the yellows, reds and oranges of the setting sun being reflected on the seawater. "So this is it?"

Sam nodded. "You're not mine to keep. We brought you up to have your independence. Now that your time has come it would be wrong of me to keep you."

"I love you daddy."

"I love you Coral. Go be amazing like your mother and make us proud."

That night they sat in Coral's old room, neither with any desire to sleep or return to the room where they had woken that morning. They looked at photographs, laughed and shared happy memories of Mercedes before falling fitfully asleep on her bed.

The next day, Coral was sad but calm. She took a few of her childhood items as mementoes, as well as the pink dress that Mercedes got married in, already knowing she would never return to this house again. Sam returned to the bedroom and stared hard at the empty bed before reaching into his bedside drawer and taking an envelope.

"What's this?" Coral opened it and gasped at the money inside. "I don't understand? What's this? I know its money but it's not from this Sector."

"It's mine. From before I met your mother. She didn't want me to spend it on her so I'm giving it to you instead. I know you have some savings, but think of that as your inheritance."

She frowned. "Why wouldn't she let you spend it on her?"

"They were her wishes and I followed them. She had her own money for the trip and wanted to use it first." They had never told Coral about Sam's previous life and occupation and resolved that she never find out. "But I want you to take it. This money is me being with you."

Their final embrace was heartbreaking. She still had four more weeks before the ship left but they both knew it would be easier to make a clean break. Besides, she had loose ends to tie up and had also been charged with organizing a memorial service in Sector Center for Mercedes' employees, clients and others who wanted to pay their respects. Over the years she had built up her own online clothing business and even employed staff. It was something she would never have been able to do in her home Sector, where the limitation for her would have been to produce items just on a small local basis. Women weren't entrepreneurs. Sam had said that he would try to come to the memorial but they both knew that he wouldn't.

Just as she was about to turn to leave he touched her belly and then sobbed, remembering that it was the same thing that Mercedes' father had done to her. He didn't get to see his grandchild either. It had all gone full circle.

She kissed him one last time and then she was gone. He stood, watching her as she descended the hill and stayed staring with teary eyes and a shattered heart long after she disappeared from view.

That was then. And since that day he had slept in Coral's room, unable to lie down on that bed again. He had stripped it and burned the sheets but that was it. Too many memories in there. His days were often spent outside painting. He had to, because when he was inside he would be tempted to just stand and stare at the empty bed, just as he was doing now.

* * *

**Present day**

It was as he stood, leaning on the doorway, staring as always as the bed which he could no longer touch, that he heard the sound.

That _CLICK! _

The unminstakable universal sound of a safety clip being released on a gun. A pistol to be specific. If Sam thought about it hard enough he would probably have been able to work out the make and model. Instead the click rang through his ears just as if it had been as loud as a gunshot. His heart pounded like a drum while his body was solid as a statue.

"Aleksander Koltczev!"

It had been years since he had heard that name. _My name is Sam Evans! _His brain screamed. _I am Sam!_

He slowly raised his hands, fingers spread wide and battled to find his words. "Who's asking?"

"Are you him?"

Sam turned slowly, keeping his hands raised to see the tall well-built young man. He had the same light brown hair and green eyes that were typical of men from his Sector and he answered him. "Yes. I was known by the name Aleksander Koltczev."

"My name is Pejter. My father was Mikhail Cszink. He was framed for fraud of which he was entirely innocent and was killed in cold blood. He had been trying to get out of the crime game because he had a young family so they sought an excuse to get rid of him forever." The man's voice sent a shiver down Sam's spine. It had been years since he had heard that accent spoken in another voice. "I have no memory of him and he had no knowledge of me. I was born eight months after he died but my brother remembers him. He was five years old and dad had just dropped him off for school as he did every day, except for one, when my father was found dead by his car thirty minutes later."

Sam gasped. The name meant nothing but the scenario did. He had tailed the car, ready to take the target out as soon as he got out when he noticed the child. Others in his profession would have simply taken out man and child to ensure no witnesses but that kind of behavior was against his moral code. So he had watched and waited as the man had walked the child to school and said his goodbyes, biting back the sense of envy. Usually his targets did not have the chance to say goodbye just as he hadn't to his own family but even though he was cold he wasn't entirely heartless.

He had caught the man up as he reached his car. Sensing a sound behind him he turned to face his face. Both men knew the inevitability of the situation. It was going to be a bullet between the eyes but now that it was revealed the man had a family he went for the heart instead.

It was a kindness. At least there could now be an open casket.

Pejter was still talking. "Our mother was distraught. That morning she had discovered she was pregnant with me and immediately packed bags for us to leave that night. They were going to travel and start a new life but they never got the chance. My brother had to live with her hurt and resolved that when he grew up, he would not rest until he had avenged the death of his father. It took several years to get through the web of lies and find all those responsible but one by one they all paid, right up to the man who hired you until eventually they were all gone.

Rumor had it that you were dead, killed after hunting down and murdering an innocent girl who had witnessed one of your killings, but he never believed it. You were slick and professional and even now people still say that you were the best. There was never a body and your ability to negotiate the Transit Sectors made it very likely for you to have escaped but the trail was cold.

Only by a freak coincidence did he happen to be in Sea Sector 5. He suffered from a lung condition and was told the sea air would do him good. It didn't and he developed pneumonia. He died just over two weeks ago. I was with him at the end. He told me that one of his nurses had met a man with green eyes who had the same accent as him one of the days that she had been in Sector Center. His age would have put him at about the same age as Aleksander.

Now I'm not like my brother, I'm an academic. I love books and I love travel. He dedicated his life in the pursuit of justice so that I could have the life he never would. But on his death bed he made me promise him one thing, to find this green eyed man and see if he is who he thought he was. He gave me this gun and said that if it was, I had to finish his life's work for him. If it wasn't then I was to throw the gun in the sea.

I wish I had never found you. I wish you had not confirmed who you are. Then I could walk away with no blood on my hands. But now we are on a path that cannot be altered."

For the first time, Sam finally found his tongue and for the first time in years his original accent was thick and strong. "I knew you were coming. Maybe not you specifically but someone from my past and I have already accepted the inevitability of what will happen. You have given your promise to a dying man and you must keep it. I have lived here in self-imposed exile with thirty years to think over my crimes and misdeeds. I have committed many many wrongs, and in all honesty have never deserved the years that I have had here. I remember your father. I remember watching him say goodbye to your brother. I wanted the little boy's last memory to be a good one which is why I waited. In return for that I want to ask for one final request."

"What is it?"

"I want to see the sea one last time. My wife loved the sea and I want to die where she is buried."

Pejter shrugged. The man looked to be around sixty and he could easily take him on if he struggled. But his final request was one he couldn't find fault with so he agreed.

The pain had been getting progressively worse each day despite Mercedes' medicine and the stick that they had kept as a souvenier, the one that she had found for him when he had injured his knee all those years ago, was now back in use as he slowly led the way, Pejter's gun on him, on the lookout for any false move. But there wasn't going to be any.

Sam picked up the keys to the house. "Do you still see the nurse that met me?"

Pejter frowned at the question. "No, but I know where she lives."

Sam handed him the keys. "Give this to her and tell her that it's a wedding present from the man she met on the street. She'll understand." The other man frowned as he took the keys, but it wasn't for him to understand. Mercedes was always saying the quote 'you received free, give free'. Artie had been given the house and gave it to them on his last day in the Sector. He was only carrying on with tradition. The fact that the recipient had unwittingly signed his death warrant was irrelevant. She was a nurse, a carer and a woman in love. As his last act he wanted to do something good and this seemed entirely appropriate. This was a house that needed to be filled with love.

Casting one final look back at the house he silently led them to his favorite spot, the place where they had been married and where Mercedes was buried. Sam was relieved that Mercedes and Coral weren't there to witness him finally having to face the justice that he deserved.

Clearly uncomfortable with silence as they walked, Pejter talked, and talked, and talked. By the time they reached the grassy outreach Sam was prepared to die, if only for the silence it would grant him! Then suddenly his words started to grab Sam's interest. "So I was thinking after this I want to travel the sea. I need to leave this place behind because of the bad memories. And there's this girl, she's so beautiful I can't even begin to describe her. We've only been on a few dates but I think I've got it bad. She's really clever and says she's heard that across the sea people live without Sectors. She's already bought her ticket and asked me to come with her. At first I wasn't sure and I really messed up when she told me that she loved me and told her I couldn't deal with it, but now, now I'm going to head straight back down after this and buy my ticket.

Up until last night I thought I was doing the kind thing by letting her go. But today I realize that I was wrong. I haven't told her this but I love her too. Whenever I look at her and she looks at me I feel something, like I'm lost and I'm found at the same time. And her eyes, not only are they the most beautiful and unusual color I've ever seen, but they give me this feeling. Like calm, inner peace. I feel like whatever craziness has to happen today, if I can just get back to her and look into her eyes I can have some peace. Do you know what I mean?"

"More than you will ever know." Sam muttered, quietly to himself.

"I need to get my ticket, find her, tell her I love her and want to spend the rest of my days with her and have a family with her!"

"Then you'd better hurry," said Sam, "The boat leaves in two days."

"Yeah." Pejter looked thoughtful.

Sam clenched his jaw. This was already taking too long. He used his stick to slowly lower himself onto his knees next to Mercedes' grave. There was no headstone, just a mound on which flower seeds had been planted. They had blossomed and spelled out the name 'Dee' over the place where she was buried. "Just finish this! I want to join the love of my life and you want to join yours!" He didn't mean to snap but this wasn't exactly the most normal situation to be dealing with. He was ready so it had to happen now or never.

Unfortunately Pejer was going to need some help. Tilting his head forward Sam pointed to the base of his skull. "One shot here severs the spinal cord and obliterates he brain. Painless for me and straightforward for you."

He heard the other man gasp but eventually he felt the cold metal press against the base of his skull and the click of the safety being released again. Sam let out a long ragged breath. _This is finally going to happen at last!_

"Any final words?"

He shook his head. There was nothing left to say. He was guilty of the crimes and now Mercedes was gone and Coral had her life sorted he had nothing left to live for. What happened on this hill would stay on this hill. Coral would never find out. Pejter might or might not work it out, but even if it did, the guilt would just lead him to treat Coral well. Of all the people on the planet she loved him and was carrying his baby. Who was Sam to judge?

Besides, after this, the gun would be thrown into the sea, just as he had done with his the first time they had managed to drag themselves from the house after consummating their marriage all over again. It was a gesture for Mercedes to let her know that everything from his past was behind them.

He closed his eyes and saw Mercedes. She was young, her eyes were smiling and her body was soft. In her arms she was clutching a chubby six month old Coral who was smiling at him too. He was clinging tightly to her mother, one chubby fist full of her mother's thick twisted hair, the other gripping a fist full of fabric on the front of her dress, making it strain even tighter over her large breasts.

He felt the cold metal press harder against his neck and focused back on Mercedes, her soft smile and her soft eyes staring straight into his, those sticky pools of molasses he had encountered that fateful first night in the Transit Sector, and he smiled right back at her, suddenly feeling, for the first time, an overwhelming sense of happiness and peace...

* * *

**THE DEFINTE END**


End file.
